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Dear Editor:
As a former public school teacher who spent 19 years teaching in four different grade levels, I understand the importance of strong public schools. My wife and I have called Noblesville home for over 18 years and our children have spent over 13 years in Noblesville Schools.
One of the most important and impactful elections being held this Fall is for three Noblesville School Board seats. This will directly affect all Noblesville residents whether they have students currently enrolled or not.
At the Chamber of Commerce Forum on Sept. 18th, the two incumbent candidates and their running mate promised to approve the next referendum before even seeing the details. This is unsurprising as the two incumbents have voted “No” zero times in their last four years on the board – including $90 million in new spending during the last term!
This all seems tone deaf to the local taxpayer who is getting crushed by higher assessed values for their 1 percent property tax and then being forced, on top of that, to pay nearly two times what other comparable communities in Hamilton County are paying in referendum taxes (Noblesville pays .462 while Carmel pays .238, Westfield pays .257 and HSE pays .291).
It was refreshing to hear the other three candidates (Dawson, Hanley, and Helvey) commit to researching the last referendum to see what worked and what didn’t. In addition, they claimed they would prioritize teacher pay and School Resource Officers if they win and earn the right to help formulate the next referendum. Their priority is funding classroom learning by seeking teacher input on how dollars can best go toward academics and the learning process.
This is the kind of discernment that Noblesville Schools will need when the new board is tasked with crafting their next referendum. Asking the community to keep rates at the current level (or even higher levels) will risk losing all referendum funds as voters will only be given a binary “Yes or No” choice on their ballot.
Like it or not, Hoosiers live in an age of expanding school choice. Dawson, Hanley, and Helvey will ask the difficult questions like “Why are 13 percent of K-12 students in Noblesville leaving the district and choosing to go to private schools while only 3 percent of Carmel students, 6 percent of Westfield students, and 10 percent of HSE students are leaving and taking most of their funding dollars with them? Why is Noblesville’s non-waiver graduation rate at 87 percent while Westfield is 92 percent, Carmel is 96 percent, and HSE is 97 percent?”
While ILearn Testing is not the most important measure of learning, it is the only apples-to-apples comparison, and one must ask, yet again, why Noblesville ranks fourth of our in comparable districts on ILearn scores. On the Spring 2024 test, Noblesville scored a 45 percent on proficiency standards while Westfield and HSE were 53 percent, and Carmel 61 percent.
All three of the opponents for Dawson, Hanley, and Helvey sit on the Noblesville Schools Foundation Board that directs grant money to district projects. This is a conflict of interest and a concentration of power that needs to be considered. In their 2022 non-profit report, they claimed to bring in $447,000 and donate $296,00 with total assets of $1.62 million. While the donations are undoubtedly a great thing for Noblesville Schools, should the same Foundation board members be granting money to the school district they are leading as School Board members and as eventual candidates?
It is clear that Noblesville needs new leadership and fresh perspectives that will prioritize academic excellence, support great teachers, and listen to all stakeholders – including the taxpayers that make public schools possible.
Please join me in voting for Dave Dawson, Alison Hanley, and Brad Helvey for Noblesville School Board on or before Nov. 5!
Martin Strother
Noblesville