Noblesville Schools’ referendum, part 1 of 4

Facts about the expanded operating referendum

NOBLESVILLE SCHOOLS

For The Reporter

Editor’s Note: The following is part 1 of a 4-part series written by Noblesville Schools administrators in an effort to explain their proposed 2018 referendum to voters and parents. This referendum will be on the ballot during the Nov. 6, 2018 election and, if passed, will affect Noblesville school district taxes. Each part of this series will be available on our website, ReadTheReporter.com, and on our Facebook page, Facebook.com/HamiltonCountyReporter, on the date of publication.

Noblesville Schools has proposed an expanded operating referendum that will be voted on by the Noblesville community on the Nov. 6, 2018 ballot.

This expanded referendum would provide Noblesville Schools with increased funding for:

1. Mental health staff and initiatives
2. Safety staff and equipment
3. Recruiting and retaining high quality teachers and staff

The referendum passed in 2016 was about maintaining the status quo of staffing, programming and services, and was a reduction in the tax rate. 2016 referendum dollars have been spent to maintain 150 staff positions and programming in art, music, physical education, STEM, media services and more. Funds are also being used to cover some transportation expenses. Since 2009, the district has lost $46.5 million in state funding.

This referendum is asking the community to support an increase in funding to provide increased resources for mental health and school safety. It will also provide funding for additional teacher compensation to better attract and retain top teaching staff.

The current referendum rate is 18.9 cents and the proposed rate is 37 cents. This would raise $6.5 million per year for eight years.

For a median Noblesville home valued at $206,000, this means $15 more a month.

This new referendum would replace the existing one and would provide funding through 2026.

Of referendum funding, 53 percent would be spent on mental health and safety staff, equipment and initiatives, while 47 percent would be spent on recruiting and retaining high-quality teachers and staff.

Referendum funding would be spent as follows:

Mental health staff and initiatives

• Screenings for students for suicide, anger, trauma, etc.
• One district mental health coordinator
• Ten social workers
• Staff for alternative education program: one director, one social worker, two teachers, school resource officer
• Two deans for middle schools
• Three teachers for English language learners
• Two additional elementary school counselors
• Mentoring program

Safety staff and equipment

• Eight additional school resource officers to cover every school (50 percent of funding, City of Noblesville will cover other 50 percent)
• Funding for additional/overtime school resource officer staffing to cover security for approximately 10,000 evening/weekend/large events a year.
• One full time district safety director
• One AV/camera technician to manage security camera surveillance
• Enhanced communication technology system
• Specially trained gun detection dogs for each school
• Enhanced video systems on 100 or more buses
• Increased bus security and bus driver professional development for 100 or more buses/drivers
• Door barricading products for 1,500 classrooms and offices
• Increased facility lockdown tools for 10 schools
• Additional security camera equipment for 10 schools
• Additional teaching staff for middles/high school due to large class sizes and facility capacity

Recruiting and retaining high-quality teachers and staff

• Strong teachers are the most important factor in academic success and student connections
• Goal is to provide salaries that are competitive with other area districts so we can recruit and retain top-quality teaching staff
• Teachers are leaving Noblesville because of salary
• In some cases, Noblesville teachers are earning $10,000 less than comparable teachers in neighboring districts
• Teacher compensation will be bargained with the Noblesville Teachers’ Forum, the exclusive union representative of our teachers