From the Indianapolis Star:
There’s no science for Indiana school districts on how to run a winning referendum campaign.
Timing, public outreach and the general political climate all can boost or torpedo efforts by school leaders to pay for improvements, says an Indiana education policy expert. Those factors play a role in Indiana’s short referendum history, in which only 45 percent have passed.
Seven Indiana school districts — including two in Hamilton County that rank among the metro area’s largest — will go before the voters on May 7.
Hamilton Southeastern Schools will ask voters to approve $95 million to expand its two high schools, and Noblesville Schools will ask for $28 million to expand its high school and relocate a middle school. Other improvements are included in both proposals.
Growing enrollment in lower grades is pressuring both suburban districts to find creative solutions as classroom space tightens at the junior and senior levels. But support for building new high schools is far from solid.
Timing is important
Terry Spradlin, a director at Indiana University’s Center for Evaluation and Education Policy, said HSE and Noblesville are in an advantageous position to ask for the property tax increase.
That’s because votes in May — as opposed to November — are trending favorable for referendums. Also, suburban districts have shown more success in passing referendums than rural or urban districts, Spradlin said. In addition, the economy is improving, and neither school district is going to the voters in a presidential election year when they might be overwhelmed by a longer ballot.
Few if any political offices of any kind are up for election in Indiana in 2013, leaving school referendums as the only game in town.
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See the full article here:
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013303240027
