Background
What is a referendum state? For years, several states outside of Indiana have funded their schools through a system know as “millage.” In essence, voters convene annually to review and approve property tax rates set by the local school district. Because of newly-minted constitutional limitations on the rate at which Indiana schools can tax property, more and more districts are likely to turn directly to voters to offset shortfalls in state funding. During the May 2012, Primary Election, seven Indiana districts put school issues on the ballot.
In 2010, more than half of all attempted referendum efforts in the state failed. According to a report release by the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy, a slightly higher percentage of General Fund referendums passed than Capital Project Fund referendums – meaning voters were more likely to support efforts to maintain programming and preserve teaching positions than they were to support new construction projects. This is actually an improvement over 2009, when only 6 of 21 attempted referendums passed.
Prior to 2009, the data become less clear. For example, in 2008 only 5-districts attempted to raise additional dollars, with all of those dollars going towards construction projects. At that time, General Fund referendums were relatively unheard of because districts could levy up to 2-million dollars in bonds without turning to voters for approval.
The total number of attempted referendums has exploded over the last three years. 5 in 2008, 21 in 2009 and 67 in 2010. This means that almost 20-percent of Indiana school districts petitioned voters for additional monies in 2010.
