There are real faces behind this referendum

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To the people of Noblesville,

If we haven’t met, I’m Evan Elliott: a 2009 NHS graduate, former NHS speech and debate director, current volunteer assistant director for the NHS Thespian Troupe, and one of your city councilmen.

For nearly 30 years, Noblesville Schools has been part of my life. Two rewarding campaigns for our school board pushed me to study how schools operate and how we pay for them. If you now follow my work on the city council, you know I ask tough questions. I challenge developers. I actually vote “no” sometimes. Common sense matters more to me than party affiliation.

That same scrutiny is why I am voting YES to renewing our school referendum.

We’ve all seen the faceless Facebook groups. The incredibly confusing numbers. The Harold Hill types shouting “oh, we’ve got trouble” on Noblesville Chatter. The abundant AI flyers telling you a school district should just operate like a household budget. If it did, we wouldn’t have public schools anymore.

So, cutting through all of that, what are we actually voting for?

This is a vote to RENEW the operating referendum that was approved in 2018 and expires at the end of this year.

And yes, many homeowners will pay slightly more. For a $350,000 home, the district projects an average increase of about $1.88 per month, or $22.56 per year, over the eight-year referendum period compared with what that homeowner is paying currently.

However, this is not “$1,000 more than you’re already paying right now,” or whatever the Facebook talking point is this week. Not even close.

That confusion largely comes from ballot language, which is regulated by the state and calculated as though the current referendum does not already exist.

Okay, so what happens if the referendum doesn’t pass?

The schools just have to find 20 percent of the current budget … $25 million. Hint: it’s not in the couch cushions. There’s no easy Plan B. No bake sale.  No burning down the stadium for scrap metal. No changing the tax code overnight.

Twenty. Five. Million. Dollars.

And when you lose funding of that magnitude, people are inevitably part of the equation. Why? Because 96 percent of our Education Fund, the district’s largest bucket of money, goes toward teacher and staff salaries and benefits.

The referendum currently helps fund school safety, mental health services, appropriate class sizes, academic and career programming, and competitive salaries to recruit and retain strong teachers and staff.

Guess what’s at risk if the referendum isn’t renewed?

All of those things.

And if you’re sitting there without a calculator thinking, “Eh, just fire a few administrators. No big deal,” the scale is considerably larger than that. A 20 percent reduction across a workforce of roughly 720 employees would represent approximately 144 positions.

For additional perspective, if reductions of that scale came entirely from classroom teachers, it would be roughly equivalent to eliminating nearly the entire teaching staffs of White River, Stony Creek, Hazel Dell, and North Elementary combined.

This is not a laughing matter.

Non-passage would also put the schools in a very difficult position when it comes to retaining the faculty and staff who remain.

Imagine morale. Our buildings would become more stressful, overworked, and anxious environments. That certainly doesn’t benefit students.

Ask the questions. Interact on the Facebook groups. Marvel at “faceless Bob’s” newest AI flyer creation. But if someone tells you the district can lose $25 million annually without hurting students, ask them to show their work.

Which positions would they eliminate? Which services would they cut? How would they replace the funding?

Behind every line in our schools’ budget is a real person.

A student. A teacher. A counselor. A cafeteria worker. A custodian. Your neighbor.

I’ve put my name behind my position. If you’re campaigning against renewal, I’d invite you to do the same.

The faces behind our referendum deserve that respect.

Evan Elliott
Noblesville City Councilman