Two referendums that local school administrators said were needed to maintain effective operations narrowly failed Tuesday night.
Both Anderson Community Schools and Elwood Community Schools had measures on the ballot asking voters to approve funding. Both measures failed – Anderson’s by just 82 votes.
The ACS referendum asked voters to renew the district’s operations referendum’s $0.1077 tax rate. The measure would have been a continuation of the referendum passed in 2018.
ACS Superintendent Joe Cronk expressed disappointment, “because we know the needs of our students and schools.”
“I also recognize the financial pressures facing families in our community,” Cronk said. “I appreciate everyone who took the time to learn about the referendum and vote, and I thank those who worked so hard to support it.”
In a presentation during a board meeting in September, it was noted that the referendum would not fully cover the deficit ACS expects to face. The deficit without referendum support in 2028 is expected to be $8.25 million. With the referendum, the expected deficit would have been about $5.35 million.
The referendum for Elwood Community Schools failed by 158 votes. The referendum tax rate they were asking for was approximately 49 cents.
Superintendent Troy Friedersdorf said he appreciated the support the corporation has received.
“We’ve made lots of positive connections with community members,” Friedersdorf said. “I feel like we got a lot of misinformation corrected about the school through the whole process, so those things are extremely positive. Obviously, we are extremely disappointed with the outcome. We respect the voters’ decision.
Friedersdorf said the school district must now navigate a difficult financial landscape.
“We have about 1,400 kids that we have to figure out how to move forward and provide the best education possible for them,” he said.
This article appeared in The Herald Bulletin.