Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) officials held a public meeting Wednesday to give details on the financial plans if the capital and operating referenda passes in November’s election. IPS Superintendent Dr. Lewis Ferebee spoke for roughly one hour about the district’s needs and how the money would be used.
Cuts in local, state and federal funding IPS caused a $45 million deficit in recent years, and to combat the deficit IPS is asking for $52 million dollars from local taxpayers. Ferebee explained in detail how money would be allocated as well as priorities for the district.
An operating referendum would generate additional funds for the next eight calendar years. If passed, IPS could provide a pay increase and maintain low-cost health benefits for employees as well as services for students with special needs.
In addition — if approved — the capital referendum will modernize safety measures to IPS buildings. The improvements would include: exterior lighting, technology upgrades and modern classroom-locking systems.
Without these funds, administrators say they won’t be able to make necessary changes, including security improvements and building upgrades and be forced to freeze teacher and employee compensation and reduce the quality of services for students with special needs.
“Over the past few years we have been operating in the red and selling off properties that we owned to continue to operate at the rate we’ve been going at without affecting teacher pay and day-to-day operations,” Ferebee said.
According to IPS, a homeowner in the district with property valued at $123,500 dollars would pay $1.33 a month, or just under $16 dollars a year for the capital referendum. The tax would only apply to property owners within the district. That figure includes the standard deduction, homestead deduction and mortgage deduction.
Ferebee’s top goal is to make sure IPS has the best compensated teachers in the state to bring success within the classroom. Despite the deficit attained over the past few years, IPS has increased teacher salary by 2 percent every year for four years.
“In the past few years we have steadily increased teacher salary and would like to continue to do so,” Ferebee said. “Four years from now I see IPS being the top district in the state when it comes to teacher compensation, which would prevent some of our teachers from leaving the district and bringing other great teachers in.”
IPS still needs to obtain enough petition signatures to make the November ballot.
For more information on the referendum you can visit: myips.org/learnmore
Contact staff writer Dontre Graves at 317-762-7848.
