Bluffton, Indiana
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Chris Smith, school board president of Southern Wells Community Schools, summed it up best last week following the news that voters had OK’d a tax increase to provide additional money for the rural district.
It wasn’t a win for the school board or the superintendent but instead a victory for the district’s students, Smith told The News-Banner.
“We’re not doing this for us; we’re doing this for education, for the students,” he said. “That’s who really won here, the kids.”
We couldn’t agree more.
Following 12 hours of ballot casting a week ago today, voters in Chester, Liberty, Jackson and Nottingtham townships approved Southern Wells’ request (609 to 559) for a seven-year operating fund referendum. Officials will use the levy — $300,000 a year — to support smaller class sizes, maintain programming and teaching staff, and implement full day kindergarten.
If we look again at how officials will use the money, we can see that board president Smith’s take is right on: The students are the true winners following the special referendum election.
In addition to Southern Wells, two other school districts across the state OK’d referendums last week, but four others did not pass.
We expect the idea of schools seeking referendums to gain momentum in the coming years since the state has changed the way it funds public education. In fact, another referendum is taking place today in Fishers at Hamilton Southeastern Schools, and Washington Township Schools is planning one for May.
Most Hoosiers are saving money because of the property tax cap of 1 percent of a home’s value, 2 percent of a farm’s value and 3 percent of a business’ value. There is a push to amend the state’s constitution to include these caps, a move we do not support at this time because Hoosiers still haven’t seen the true impact of such a change.
We wonder, though, if Hoosiers really are saving that much via the property tax caps. If more school districts, for example, have to pass referendums to survive because of the modified way the state now funds them, it seems we’ve done nothing more than rob Peter to pay Paul. But, I digress.
We commend the voters in southern Wells County for OK’ing the referendum because the extra money will enable school officials to continue providing students a varied and progressive curriculum with class sizes that are manageable.
“Obviously, everything we do comes under scrutiny because the community cares very much about the quality of education we provide for the students,” superintendent Jim Craig said last week. “But now it will be even more important for us to be careful how we spend that money — that we make the best possible use of the money they have entrusted us with.”
We have no doubt that school officials will use this money for the right reasons because they realize better than most that this referendum was about one thing: the kids.
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