From the Muncie Star-Press:
Will the “no” votes in Tuesday’s Muncie Community Schools bus referendum save Southside High School?
No, but that’s what fliers distributed the weekend before the election promised southside residents, and school officials believe the false message skewed the vote.
The “letter to Muncie Southside residents” included a headline that read: “Save Muncie Southside & Say No to Higher Taxes. Vote No!”
“I don’t see how it couldn’t have had an impact,” said Muncie Community Schools Supt. Tim Heller. “When you are telling people that by voting no it’s going to save Southside, it’s going to impact some people. How much, I don’t know.”
Muncie Community Schools officials have said, repeatedly, that the two issues were separate. The result of the referendum would not impact the closing of a school, Heller said.
Heller said the approach used by those encouraging a “no’ vote was unfortunate. MCS, he said, chose to “educate the public about the issue,” while opponents tried to confuse voters.
Jim Arnold, who distributed a variety of “vote no” fliers in the weeks leading up to the vote, said he had “no comment” when asked if he knew who created the Save Muncie Southside flier.
He added that at this point, since the referendum was voted down, it didn’t seem relevant.
The property tax referendum would have raised the needed funds to operate the district’s school buses for the 2014-15 school year.
Muncie Community Schools officials said that without the referendum, the school buses will not run for the 2014-15 school year. The district is currently awaiting word from the Indiana Department of Education on a waiver that would allow it to cease transportation services next year, instead of waiting the required three years.
In Tuesday’s referendum, only 8,263 of 50,682 local registered voters — 16.3 percent — turned out to vote. And of those voters, just under 54 percent voted “no.”
The precinct results do show that more southside residents overall voted against the referendum - “no” votes were racked up by majorities of 60 percent or more.
http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013311070046
