CARMEL — Four communities in Central Indiana have school taxes next to politicians on the ballot this Tuesday. However, most of these measures will not take any more money from a taxpayer's pocket.
Carmel-Clay Schools, Hamilton Southeastern Schools, Sheridan Community Schools, and Monroe County Community School Corporation are seeking a combined $57 million in yearly tax referendum funding. MCCSC's $8.5 million request is the only new tax levy in the group.
Carmel-Clay and Hamilton Southeastern are the largest requests at $24 million per year.
Carmel-Clay's request renews an existing referendum at the same property tax rate of $0.19 for every $100 in property value. Superintendent Dr. Michael Beresford said the renewal represents about 20 percent of CCS' budget and is crucial for paying teacher salaries.
"I've got 16,000 kids that need to have all their teachers," Beresford said. "It's a very special community and our schools are very important to everybody."
Hamilton Southeastern's request would actually decrease taxes across the district. HSE's referndum brings the tax levy down from $0.2275 to $0.1995 for every $100 in property tax value.
Interim superintendent Matt Kegley said the district would suffer if voters don't approve the referendum.
"That would mean potential larger class sizes, fewer teachers, things of that nature," Kegley said.
Sheridan Community Schools' projected yearly revenue from its referendum is a sliver of the other three, which reflects the district's small size. The district's total population of 1,052 students is fewer than the approximately 1,300 students in Carmel High School's senior class, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Sheridan is asking for a renewal of its $0.25 for every $100 in property tax value, which is the highest rate among the four districts. It would bring in $1.27 million per year for Sheridan schools.
Monroe County's referendum is the only standalone tax increase at $0.085 for ever $100 in tax revenue. However, the district sees it as a specific measure to supplement a larger referendum passed by MCCSC voters last year.
"We anticipated the state would fund universal Pre-K, but when it became clear that wasn't going to happen, we would try to run a referendum in order to accomplish that ourselves," said MCCSC school board president April Hennessey. "The demand for high-quality education and accountability is very, very high."
The full breakdown of the $57.7 million in Central Indiana tax referendum proposals is below:
Carmel-Clay Schools
- Renewal of existing tax referendum
- Measure would collect $23.96 million/year
- $23.5 million for recruiting and retaining teachers
- $456,464 for educationally related programs
- Unchanged tax rate of $0.19/$100 in property value
Hamilton Southeastern Schools
- Renewal of existing tax referendum
- Measure would collect $24 million/year
- $9 million for recruiting and retaining teachers
- $6.7 million for academic and teacher funding
- $5.9 million for maintaining class sizes
- $2.2 million for safety and school resource officers
- Lowered tax rate of $0.1995/$100 in property value
Sheridan Community Schools
- Renewal of existing tax referendum
- Measure would collect $1.27 million/year
- $895,995 for recruiting and retaining teachers
- $377,00 for academic programs and operational expenses
- Unchanged tax rate of $0.25/$100 in property tax value
Monroe County Community School Corporation
- New tax referendum
- Measure would collect $8.5 million/year
- $6 million for expanding free and affordable early child education and pre-K
- $1.25 million to eliminate fees for K-12 education
- $1.25 for funding career education
- Tax rate of $0.085/$100 in property tax value
