Need A Reason for Referendum and Reform?

If you need a reason to support the Republican-backed referendums, look no further than to what’s happening in the Center Grove area in Johnson County.  Note that the Johnson County Daily Journal requires a subscription to read the full text:

Two Center Grove elementary schools will be closed and sold, two will be expanded or renovated, and a new elementary school will be built if a plan by school officials is accepted.

The change would make Center Grove’s five remaining elementary schools larger, housing 650 to 750 students, and follow Gov. Mitch Daniels’ request for schools to consolidate and operate more efficiently, Superintendent Steven Stephanoff said. The project is being done quickly to get approval before state legislators make major changes to the property tax system, he added.

So let’s get this straight.  The Center Grove Superintendent is pushing a major construction project for the district.  He wants to get it approved NOW.  Why?

By his own admission, because he fears that the legislature will give more power to the voters this session.  I suppose he wonders whether or not (with property tax increases through the roof) taxpayers will agree to pay for it. 

Last I looked, we were living in a democratic country.  But, I digress.

Now, that’s bad enough.  But here comes more.

A vote by the board could come in February or March. If approved, officials would next decide how the project would be paid for and whether the money borrowed should be part of a larger loan to pay for renovating and expanding the high school.

How much the work will cost, or exactly how it will be paid for, isn't known.

Yeah.  You read that right.  The Superintendent wants to approve his new multi-million dollar project- without a price tag and without a way to pay for it.

If we don’t get the referendum proposal passed, this kind of insanity will continue.  That’s why the Republicans are fighting hard for it.  We are still looking for a credible reason why the Democrats have opposed it.