Support WCS's Building Project
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Gary [email protected]
If you’re a property taxpayer living in the Warsaw Community School Corporation, you probably should attend one of them.
The first is Tuesday and the second is Wednesday. Both are at 6:30 p.m. at the Warsaw Community High School Performing Arts Center.
The school corporation is hosting these presentations to inform the community about some fairly significant needs regarding aging facilities.
According to a release from the school we ran Thursday, “The purpose of the meeting is to present the challenges faced by our school community and conduct a discussion of proposed solutions and the impact a possible referendum would have on residents."
Ah, yes, the referendum.
The referendum became law in 2008. It was part of a larger reform of Indiana’s property tax laws.
The law says voters have to approve building projects worth $12 million or more via referendum if new property taxes are needed to pay for them.
It also requires that for projects of $2 million to $12 million, residents can force a referendum through a remonstrance.
This is the first time Warsaw has proposed building anything since the law took effect, so this is the first referendum.
It’s the first time voters in the Warsaw School Corporation will be asked – on the May primary ballot – if the district should be allowed to raise their property taxes.
Careful readers of the Times-Union knew this was coming.
In 2011 the board commissioned architects from Kovert Hawkins to do a facilities study.
In September 2012, Kovert Hawkins reported its findings to the school board.
At that time, the architects suggested a new Lincoln Elementary School, a new facility for an OrthoWorx Senior STEM Academy; additions to Warsaw Community High School and Warsaw Area Career Center; and demolishing Edgewood Middle School and building on to Washington Elementary to create a K-8 OrthoWorx Junior STEM Academy.
The cost was $110.6 million, give or take. This seemed like a pie-in-the-sky kind of assessment to me.
In January 2014, then Superintendent Dr. Craig Hintz updated the community on the Warsaw Schools’ long-range facilities plans.
At that time, Hintz suggested the earliest the board may want to move forward with a referendum was May 2015.
Here’s an excerpt from our story back then:
Hintz ... laid out the four main components of the building campaign WCS is considering.
He said the components the school district currently is focused on include a new Lincoln Elementary School, renovation of Edgewood Middle School, renovation and expansion of Washington STEM Academy, and improvements to the Warsaw Community High School/Warsaw Area Career Center building.
Hintz didn’t offer up a cost for his plan, but it seemed, given the main components, that it would come in somewhere around $80 million.
I remember talking this over with my reporter David Slone, who covers Warsaw Schools for us. We both thought a referendum in the $80 million range would be a tough sell for the school corporation.
Comes now Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert who is tasked with sorting it all out.
He and the school board – to their credit – have huddled with teachers and administrators to come up with a plan that addresses the most pressing needs of the school corporation.
Those needs are a new Lincoln Elementary, upgrades to Washington STEM Academy and upgrades to Edgewood Middle School.
Cost for these improvements are somewhere around $37 million. Now, $37 million is a lot of money, to be sure, but it’s a far cry from $80 million or $110 million.
And these improvements are sorely needed. This is what the public meetings are about. Hoffert wants the community to understand the need.
Lincoln, for example, was built in 1959. There are issues with HVAC, electrical, plumbing – just name a few.
Aside from that, the school simply isn’t suited to today’s educational needs. Hundreds of students make their way through one 3-foot door several times each day.
The school isn’t safe and secure by today’s standards. There aren’t adequate power and data outlets for computer labs.
There are more deficiencies at Lincoln and all of this will be covered in detail during the meetings. I would encourage Warsaw Schools patrons to attend one of the meetings and get the full story.
The needs at Washington and Edgewood are similar, but those buildings are newer and can be renovated instead of replaced, saving millions of dollars.
The school corporation is not proposing anything that isn’t necessary.
So what happens if this referendum fails? Eventually, Lincoln likely would be shuttered by the Indiana Department of Education.
When that happens, students will be moved to other schools, causing overcrowding and there will be an empty, crumbling school left behind.
There goes the neighborhood.
I realize schools are not cheap and $37 million is not chump change. But I believe Warsaw Schools has done its homework to come up with a building plan that addresses pressing needs without breaking the bank.
Warsaw voters can feel confident of that when they go to the polls.
The cost in real terms to taxpayers will be manageable. For a house with an assessed valuation of $100,000, property taxes would rise around $46 per year – less than $4 per month.
Nobody wants taxes to increase. I get that. But in this case, the increase is warranted, and school officials have worked to keep the increase to a minimum.
I think Warsaw Schools patrons should strongly consider voting yes on the May school building referendum.
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If you’re a property taxpayer living in the Warsaw Community School Corporation, you probably should attend one of them.
The first is Tuesday and the second is Wednesday. Both are at 6:30 p.m. at the Warsaw Community High School Performing Arts Center.
The school corporation is hosting these presentations to inform the community about some fairly significant needs regarding aging facilities.
According to a release from the school we ran Thursday, “The purpose of the meeting is to present the challenges faced by our school community and conduct a discussion of proposed solutions and the impact a possible referendum would have on residents."
Ah, yes, the referendum.
The referendum became law in 2008. It was part of a larger reform of Indiana’s property tax laws.
The law says voters have to approve building projects worth $12 million or more via referendum if new property taxes are needed to pay for them.
It also requires that for projects of $2 million to $12 million, residents can force a referendum through a remonstrance.
This is the first time Warsaw has proposed building anything since the law took effect, so this is the first referendum.
It’s the first time voters in the Warsaw School Corporation will be asked – on the May primary ballot – if the district should be allowed to raise their property taxes.
Careful readers of the Times-Union knew this was coming.
In 2011 the board commissioned architects from Kovert Hawkins to do a facilities study.
In September 2012, Kovert Hawkins reported its findings to the school board.
At that time, the architects suggested a new Lincoln Elementary School, a new facility for an OrthoWorx Senior STEM Academy; additions to Warsaw Community High School and Warsaw Area Career Center; and demolishing Edgewood Middle School and building on to Washington Elementary to create a K-8 OrthoWorx Junior STEM Academy.
The cost was $110.6 million, give or take. This seemed like a pie-in-the-sky kind of assessment to me.
In January 2014, then Superintendent Dr. Craig Hintz updated the community on the Warsaw Schools’ long-range facilities plans.
At that time, Hintz suggested the earliest the board may want to move forward with a referendum was May 2015.
Here’s an excerpt from our story back then:
Hintz ... laid out the four main components of the building campaign WCS is considering.
He said the components the school district currently is focused on include a new Lincoln Elementary School, renovation of Edgewood Middle School, renovation and expansion of Washington STEM Academy, and improvements to the Warsaw Community High School/Warsaw Area Career Center building.
Hintz didn’t offer up a cost for his plan, but it seemed, given the main components, that it would come in somewhere around $80 million.
I remember talking this over with my reporter David Slone, who covers Warsaw Schools for us. We both thought a referendum in the $80 million range would be a tough sell for the school corporation.
Comes now Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert who is tasked with sorting it all out.
He and the school board – to their credit – have huddled with teachers and administrators to come up with a plan that addresses the most pressing needs of the school corporation.
Those needs are a new Lincoln Elementary, upgrades to Washington STEM Academy and upgrades to Edgewood Middle School.
Cost for these improvements are somewhere around $37 million. Now, $37 million is a lot of money, to be sure, but it’s a far cry from $80 million or $110 million.
And these improvements are sorely needed. This is what the public meetings are about. Hoffert wants the community to understand the need.
Lincoln, for example, was built in 1959. There are issues with HVAC, electrical, plumbing – just name a few.
Aside from that, the school simply isn’t suited to today’s educational needs. Hundreds of students make their way through one 3-foot door several times each day.
The school isn’t safe and secure by today’s standards. There aren’t adequate power and data outlets for computer labs.
There are more deficiencies at Lincoln and all of this will be covered in detail during the meetings. I would encourage Warsaw Schools patrons to attend one of the meetings and get the full story.
The needs at Washington and Edgewood are similar, but those buildings are newer and can be renovated instead of replaced, saving millions of dollars.
The school corporation is not proposing anything that isn’t necessary.
So what happens if this referendum fails? Eventually, Lincoln likely would be shuttered by the Indiana Department of Education.
When that happens, students will be moved to other schools, causing overcrowding and there will be an empty, crumbling school left behind.
There goes the neighborhood.
I realize schools are not cheap and $37 million is not chump change. But I believe Warsaw Schools has done its homework to come up with a building plan that addresses pressing needs without breaking the bank.
Warsaw voters can feel confident of that when they go to the polls.
The cost in real terms to taxpayers will be manageable. For a house with an assessed valuation of $100,000, property taxes would rise around $46 per year – less than $4 per month.
Nobody wants taxes to increase. I get that. But in this case, the increase is warranted, and school officials have worked to keep the increase to a minimum.
I think Warsaw Schools patrons should strongly consider voting yes on the May school building referendum.
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