By Sam Elliott

Hamilton Southeastern Supt. Dr. Allen Bourff went on a tour of upwards of 50 meetings last fall to speak with residents and community groups as the district was planning for its upcoming ballot referendum.

Now that the referendum’s tax rate and strategy has been finalized, Bourff is back out on tour in an effort to educate voters on the referendum’s details, goals and potential effects.

“We want informed voters to go to the polls this spring,” Bourff said. “The more informed our voters are, the more we think they’re going to see that a 12.75-cent increase in the tax rate is money invested in a good cause — that would be the HSE schools.”

Bourff has already met with parent-teacher organizations from 10 of the district’s schools across four March meetings and has another with more PTOs scheduled for April, followed by a pair of public meetings to cap off his tour.

The meetings, open to all members of the public, will be at 6 p.m. at the Delaware Township Community Center on April 20 and 26.

“We want them to know what the referendum is about,” Bourff said. “We want them to be aware of all the goals we have within and the objectives of this referendum — and we have many. Of course, the primary one is to reduce class sizes. The second would be to attract and retain quality teachers and third is to prepare our students for the global environment, but there are many different pieces within that and we think if people understand what we’re trying to do, they’ll be more likely to support it.”

For more, visit HSE.K12.in.us/adm/news/referendum.aspx.