Greater Clark County Schools $109.2 million referendum easily voted down

Preliminary results showed the referendum got the support of 1,785 voters, or 29.7 percent, and lost to 4,212 votes, or 70.3 percent.

In a statement, Andrew Melin, superintendent, said he hoped the district's campaign would have persuaded voters to approve the $109.2 million measure.

“I respect the community and their votes, but we're obviously very disappointed with the outcome,” Melin said in a written statement. "We worked very hard to educate the voters about the problems with some of our facilities, and the cost to fix those issues which allowed them to make an informed decision about the proposed tax increase.

"Our facility challenges are not going away, so we will have to facilitate extensive community-based discussions to find a resolution that the voters will be able to support in the future.”

The plan would have renovated or replaced several schools in the district, but the campaign mounted against the plan took issue with the tax increase associated with it.

Donna Spence, a member of Greater Clark Taxpayers for Fiscal Responsibility, said she wasn't too worried about whether the measure would pass or fail.

“Nobody was nervous,” Spence said. “If you are going with a tax increase, keep in small. It was a big check without a good game plan. That's where they failed.”

The ballot question showed a tax rate of about 39.27 cents per $100 of assessed valuation on property, but debt falloff could have placed it closer to about 18.9 cents per $100. State law doesn't allow the district to adjust the rate for debt falloff on the ballot question.

Christina Gilkey, Greater Clark board of trustees vice president, said she's not sure what's next in regards to regrouping.

“I don't know,” Gilkey said. “We're going to have to definitely put our heads together and think about something. One thing I know for sure, we won't give up. Our kids need state-of-the-art learning facilities and they need safe facilities.”

Some of the upgrades would have addressed issues like open-concept floorplans at Northaven Elementary School, which means rooms don't have floor-to-ceiling walls and some are left completely without doors. The board has raised concern about the security issues that poses.

Teresa Perkins, board member, said she had hoped the district's information campaign would have been more effective in convincing voters that the referendum was necessary.

“I'm disappointed, because I'm a Pollyanna and I think people care about our kids and our schools like I do,” Perkins said. “I think they do, but they didn't have enough information to vote wisely.”

School districts have limited means to generate money for very large construction projects. They can issue general obligation bonds without voter approval for $2 million per project, but the projects must be markedly different.

“Now, we can't do the project unless it's under $2 million,” Gilkey said. “It will take $4 million to make River Valley [Middle School] safe.”

Districts can go through petition remonstrance to get support for projects of about $10 million, which requires getting signatures of support and giving the opposition a chance to get more signatures than the district. Otherwise, districts must work through the referendum process for more expensive projects.

Spence said if the district took a different approach to its plan, it might have better luck next time around. The district must wait at least one year to put another referendum question on the ballot.

“If they come back next year with a prioritized plan that we can review and be informed, you'll get the taxpayers on board,” Spence said.

Melin, outside of the written statement, did not return requests for comment.

Tara Schmelz contributed to this report.