Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Thursday, May 7, 2015
(UNDATED) - Four Indiana school districts are pondering their next move after voters defeated referenda seeking property tax hikes.
Voters denied requests for extra operating dollars in Brownsburg, Gary, and Pike County. The no vote in Gary comes on the heels of a seven-million-dollar funding cut in the new state budget.
In contrast, Brownsburg is in line for a seven-million-dollar increase. Superintendent Jim Snapp notes the referendum request had to be submitted in January, when no one knew what legislators would do. He says the increase likely makes the referendum a moot point.
But Snapp says the defeat of a second referendum for improvements to Brownsburg High School prolongs crowded conditions at a school which has nearly tripled its enrollment since it was built in 1971. He says school officials will talk to voters to get a sense of whether the 53-percent opposition ran deep, or reflected a lack of information about the construction plans.
Pike County Superintendent Suzanne Blake says the school board will review options for cutting spending after a tax-hike request failed by a two-to-one margin.
New Albany voters rejected a request for money to tear down and replace two aging elementary schools, and renovate two others.
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