INDIANAPOLIS — IPS is planning on asking for $800 million in referendum funding over the next few years to help pay for its Rebuilding Stronger reorganization plan.
Thursday evening, the district announced it would be seeking $410 million in capital referendums to pay for school buildings and improvements to facilities.
They'll also be asking voters for an operating referendum that would give the school district $50 million annually through 2031 to cover teacher salaries and educational opportunities for students.
IPS estimates the referendums would cost an estimated $6 per month for most homeowners.
The Rebuilding Stronger plan, which IPS has proposed for the district, would seek to consolidate K-8 schools into a traditional elementary and middle school models as well as upgrade buildings. The plan would seek to make the district more equitable in the opportunities it gives its students, from music and band to algebra and extracurriculars, while making strides to make educational opportunities more equitable for students of color around the school district.
"It's time to invest in our kids, it's time to invest in our facilities," said Evan Hawkins, school board president. "And as I mentioned in my comments and remarks earlier today, over $1.2 (billion) to $1.4 billion dollars in deferred maintenance in our facilities. We talk about, these are buildings that house young people and children, where their dreams are cultivated and grown. So when we think about schools that are engaging, exciting, cultivating and attractive to communities and families, IPS deserves those types of facilities."
Hawkins said that funding is a big ask from voters, especially as inflation costs remain high across the state, but believes it's time to invest in the children within the district.
"For us, we want to be sensitive," he said. "We're in a world where we see inflation, we're in a world where we see property or assessed values increasing, and so we want to be very sensitive to that. But we see this as an opportunity to invest in our kids because we think about all these environmental factors that are happening but without investing in our kids and creating opportunities for them to be successful and be contributing members of our society in the future, that's just what it's about."
The Rebuilding Stronger proposal has caused some controversy from families concerned about the impacts of school closures, racial disparities increasing and school zone changes, as well as from teachers who feel the district needs to give them a seat at the table to ensure this is a plan that works for everyone in the district.
"Some of IEA's biggest concerns had to do with, one, how any sort of staffing relocation was going to happen. We've done this as a district before, right? We've done high school closings, we've done consolidations, and so we've done things well in the past and we've done things really wrong. And with something that's going to be such a large scale, we feel very strongly that educators should be at the table helping make these decisions," said Jack Hesser, a math teacher at Harshman Middle School and vice president of the Indianapolis Education Association.
Hesser said many teachers believe extra care needs to be taken on a district-wide level when making changes on this scale to ensure students can succeed.
“This other zone, Zone 4, none of those programs those choice programs will be established programs, meaning every single one of them will be brand new. And so I want to hear the district explain what the plan is to make sure those are successful because honestly, it might take extra resources to make sure those are successful, when you’re starting from scratch,” Hesser said.
Changes to the Rebuilding Stronger plan have been made through the community feedback IPS received, including adding a STEM school to one of the proposed school zones that wasn't originally slated to have one.
Many teachers and families are now hoping for further conversations with IPS to consider additional changes before the board takes a vote on the plan Nov. 17.