It was a lovefest of a political nature at the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) meeting Wednesday night.  The HSE School Board was joined by the Fishers City Council, along with Mayor Scott Fadness.

Mayor Fadness stated firmly he is behind the referendum on the November ballot to fund HSE Schools for 8 years, beginning in 2024.  The City Council unanimously voted to support a resolution urging taxpayers to approve the referendum.

I began receiving statements from incumbent members of the city council and candidates for the council, all voicing clear support for this referendum.  It appeared that there was a bipartisan group forming to ask voters to support the local schools financially.

The only exception to this is one school board member.  The board voted 6-0 to place the referendum on the ballot, with Tiffany Pascoe choosing to abstain.  I only had a moment to speak with Ms. Pasco outside the meeting room Wednesday night, and her only comment referred to issues she appears to have with how budgets are done in the district.

But, with that one exception, the political world of Fishers appears to strongly back approval of the HSE referendum.

There has been a lot said and written about this referendum.  It can be a mind-boggling experience to wrap your mind around all the numbers and details surrounding a school referendum vote in Indiana, but I will give it a try as it applies to this HSE referendum.

First, let’s read how the ballot measure will be worded for the November general election:

Shall Hamilton Southeastern Schools continue to impose increased property taxes paid to the school corporation by homeowners and businesses for eight (8) years immediately following the holding of the referendum for the purpose of funding academic and educationally related programs, maintaining class sizes, retaining and attracting of teachers, essential safety initiatives, and changing the previously approved maximum referendum tax rate from $0.2275 to $0.1995? The property tax increase requested in this referendum was originally approved by the voters in May, 2016 and if extended will increase the average property tax paid to the school corporation per year on a residence within the school corporation by 20.8% and if extended will increase the average property tax paid to the school corporation per year on a business property within the school corporation by 20.8%.

Some say the rate would actually decrease if this referendum passes, yet the word “increase” or “Increased” can be found all over this language.  That is required by state law.  The local school board had the ability to write only a small part of the language and the entire wording is subject to state approval in the end.

The reference to a tax increase means passage of the referendum rate would allow the HSE District to have a rate above what the corporation would have without a referendum.  HSE Schools passed a referendum in 2016 of .2275.  The rate the board is asking taxpayers to approve in the referendum is .1995, less than the previous referendum rate.

It should be noted that the state of Indiana provides support to local school districts on a per-student basis.  There is a complex formula to determine the per-student support each school district receives from the state.

The school district with the lowest per-student funding from the state is Zionsville, with the second lowest being Carmel.  Both Carmel and Zionsville have operating referendum funding in place.  The third-lowest school district in state per-student support is HSE.

For example, Carmel-Clay Schools have an operating referendum rate of .2400, Noblesville’s referendum tax rate is .3700 and Westfield-Washington’s rate is .1700.  Bottom line is this – suburban school districts need an operating referendum to properly fund local schools.

I have covered HSE Schools for about 12 years and generally found the district to be careful with its money.  The central office staff is fairly small for the fourth-largest school system in the state (based on student enrollment).  I have found every HSE Chief Financial Officer, including the current one, Katy Dowling, to be looking for ways to reasonably save money on a regular basis.

Ms. Dowling provided an example to the board Wednesday of a home in the HSE District valued at $319,500.  Once all deductions and the property tax cap are considered, assuming the referendum passes, in 2024 the lower referendum rate would save that homeowner about $81, or less than $7 a month if the homeowner pays property taxes through a mortgage escrow system.

So, what would happen if voters choose to reject the referendum, in the fall general election?  Ms. Dowling did cover that with the board Wednesday night.

The largest line item would require layoffs of teachers, saving $12.5 million and resulting in larger class sizes.  There would be a “restructuring” of the employee health benefit plan amounting to $4 million.  For the full listing, see the graphic at the end of this post.

There is much more that could be written, but this post is already long enough.  Suffice to say that voters have a lot to consider before casting their ballots in the fall election.

A Political Action Committee, Advance HSE, has been formed to advocate a yes vote.  It is not known whether there will be organized opposition to this referendum, but if so, we will be hearing from them as well.

I will be doing my best to cover this important referendum vote this fall, along with the very important city election.