By Sam Elliott

The Hamilton Southeastern School Board has approved an operating tax referendum for the May 3 primary ballot.

At its Jan. 25 meeting, the board unanimously approved the referendum proposal presented by superintendent Dr. Allen Bourff. The three main goals of the referendum are to reduce class sizes, attract and retain quality teachers and prepare students for the globally competitive environment.

“The first two were the same two that we used in 2009 when we went for the current referendum,” Bourff said.

The goals from that 2009 referendum were unable to be realized, however, after significant state funding cuts enacted by then-governor Mitch Daniels left HSE needing the referendum funds to keep all its workforce intact and buildings open.

“The supporters of this community came out in overwhelming support and it was based on salaries and lower class sizes — and it never happened. It wasn’t because the board and administration chose not to pursue that,” Bourff said. “It happened because in 2009 only a matter of weeks after it was approved the governor cut the budget by over $300 million and the positive impact of that referendum was totally neutralized.”

The proposed referendum would add 12.75 cents to the tax rate in addition to the current 10-cent referendum from 2009, yielding $17 million for HSE annual operating expenses for the next seven years. Per-pupil revenues would rise to just less than $49 above the state average.

“What would that mean to the individual taxpayer at the end of the year? After all the deductions that are typical, it would be, for a home of $100,000 about $41.76,” Bourff said. “For a home of $250,000, it would be $166.07 and then for [a]$500,000 [home], $373.36.”

HSE’s state funding before referendum funds is just more than $700 per student below the Indiana average. The district’s 2009 referendum raises just less than $330 per student.

“With that referendum, we were able to raise our per-student rate to around $5,500,” Bourff said. “It gets us closer to the state average of almost $5,900, but it’s still about $372 below the state average.”

The proposed referendum would generate $750.72 per student, bringing HSE’s total funding per student to $5,926.36.

With the increased funding, HSE could immediately lower class sizes by hiring as many as 45 new teachers.

“From 2009 to today, we had a 17 percent growth in our student body,” Bourff said. “We did not have a commensurate increase in our staff. We have been delaying or deferring hiring staff for those years in large part to stay under-budget.”

Referendum funds would also enable HSE to hire eight new foreign language teachers and assistant principals at each of the 12 elementary schools while also adding to staff salaries, eliminating participation fees for extra-curricular programs, increasing the supply budget and adding additional academic and mental health counseling resources.