Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. will follow the lead of other school corporations around the state and ask county taxpayers to approve a property tax increase to help pay for teacher and support staff raises, along with other needs.
If BCSC school board members approve seeking a referendum, the public vote on the property tax increase could be on May’s primary ballot.
Superintendent Jim Roberts said he will propose an operating referendum to BCSC school board members at Monday night’s school board meeting. The board meets at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Columbus East High School, 230 S. Marr Road.
The proposed operating referendum would ask Bartholomew County residents to agree to a property tax increase to bring dollars into the school system and use them to run building operations, including raising salaries for BCSC teachers and support staff.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
An average of how much of an increase property owners could see will be released to the general public by Roberts on Monday, school officials said.
BCSC’s current tax rate for 2019 is $0.8512 per $100 assessed valuation, which is $0.2265 less than the Indiana state average.
The referendum is being described on the school board’s meeting agenda as a “strategy for increasing teacher and support staff salaries.”
On Nov. 19, more than 100 BCSC educators attended a union-organized rally to lobby for education reform on the lawn of the Indiana Statehouse.
The action day, organized by the Indiana State Teachers Association, took place when lawmakers returned to the Statehouse to gear up for the 2020 legislative session.
Public education supporters said they want legislators to hold instructors harmless from low I-LEARN scores, and are asking that the state’s budget surplus be used to increase teacher pay. They also want a repeal of new requirements for teachers to complete an externship in order to renew their teaching license.
Indiana teachers make an average of $51,000 a year, in the bottom third of U.S. states for teachers’ pay, the National Education Association said.
BCSC school board members approved a contract between BCSC and the Columbus Educators Association on Nov. 12 that included an average 2.5% salary increase for about 730 certified teachers under the district’s collective bargaining agreement. The salary increase is retroactive to the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year.
Of those 730 teachers, those who have worked for BCSC for two or more years will also receive a $400 stipend intended to offset the cost of the increase health premiums. The number of certified teachers employed by BCSC is subject to change as teachers resign or others are hired.
BCSC administrators and support staff will see a 2.5% increase on their paychecks beginning Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2020. Any administrator or support staff covered by BCSC’s high deductible health insurance plan in 2020 will also receive a $400 bonus in their Health Savings Account.
During the 2019-2020 school year, the salary of a BCSC teacher on step A of the school corporation’s pay scale is $39,065. A BCSC teacher on the highest step of the pay scale, step FF, is paid $76,265. The pay scale permits different levels of salaries based on a teacher’s experience, post-graduate degrees, attendance and evaluations.
Salaries and benefits make up about 97% of the school corporation’s 2020 education fund, which funds several other items including supplies, property and equipment. On Monday, Roberts is expected to go over how much additional money would support teacher and support staff salaries if a potential referendum was approved in primary voting in May.
Roberts said a recommendation to the school board seeking an actual referendum will not be made until January.
In November 2014, local voters rejected a BCSC referendum to pay for pre-K funding for a second time that asked taxpayers to pay $1.8 million annually for seven years through a property tax increase of 5 cents per $100 assessed valuation.
At the time, BCSC officials had hoped to provide scholarships to an estimated 450 low-income 4-year-olds.
The school corporation conducted an all-staff meeting Thursday to present about the potential operating referendum and answer any questions ahead of Monday’s meeting. The meeting was not open to the general public.
Those who wish to speak publicly at Monday’s school board meeting about the referendum proposal or other items on the agenda must register on the blue sheet as they enter the meeting.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”About referendums” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
A referendum is a public question placed on a ballot by a local governmental unit, which can include a school corporation. Past proposals around the state have included construction projects (for various taxing units, including schools) and operating needs (for schools).
Property taxes that are approved by voters in a referendum are not subject to the property tax caps. Therefore, any successful referendum may result in a property tax bill that exceeds the caps (1% of assessed value for homesteads meaning owner-occupied residences, 2% for other residential properties and farmland, and 3% for all other property).
To learn more about referendums, visit the Department of Local Government Finance website at in.gov/dlgf/8789.htm.
[sc:pullout-text-end]
