UPDATE:
Voters passed the South Bend Community Schools' $220 million referendum during Tuesday’s primary. The unofficial vote results were posted Wednesday afternoon by the St. Joseph County Clerk’s office.
South Bend Schools Superintendent Todd Cummings released a statement thanking voters for their support.
“We have the hardest working educators in the state right here in South Bend," he said. "They will now have the tools to ensure the children of South Bend receive an education second to none.”
Cummings also said for the voters who opposed the referendum, the school corporation will continue to work on building trust and transparency.
PREVIOUS POST:
New vote totals being reported by the St. Joseph Co. Clerk's office following the June 2 primary show positive news for the South Bend Community School Corporation's referendum.
Today SBCSC officials confirmed that the latest vote results being reported indicate approval of both questions that voters decided on as part of the referendum.
Question One on the ballot addressed a one-time capital investment of $54 million to update the safety and security of school buildings. Question Two addressed an eight-year operational investment of $20.8 million per year to pay for things like increased teacher salaries. SBCSC officials say both were approved.
EARLIER POST:
A spokesperson for SBCSC says the election committee informed the school system that vote results would not be available for at least a week or possibly longer because of the number of mail-in ballots.
As of 10pm Tuesday with 12 of 12 vote centers reporting and with partial absentee results, here are the unofficial results on the two questions that were before voters:
QUESTION ONE (Approval of a one-time capital investment of $54 million to update the safety and security of school buildings)
YES 10,825
NO 7,588
QUESTION TWO (Approval of an eight-year operational investment of $20.8 million per year to pay for things like increased teacher salaries)
YES 10,221
NO 8,104
ORIGINAL POST:
The South Bend Community School Corporation is asking people to vote 'yes' on a $220 million referendum. The money would be raised through an increase in property taxes over the next eight years.
The school corporation says if the referendum doesn’t pass, there will have to be serious budget cuts which means larger class sizes, less programs, and fewer resources for students.
Kim Teska voted at the Century Center in South Bend today. She says she’s hesitant to approve more money for South Bend Schools.
“I’ve looked at how they used the money that they have thus far and how many of the schools are failing and I’m not sure that they are using their resources appropriately so I’m not so sure I’m going to vote for them to get more.”
Lia Hauser voted for the first time Tuesday. She says the school corporation doesn’t have enough money to begin with, so voting 'yes' was a no brainer for her.
“Our schools already don’t receive enough money most of the time," she says. "I just got out of school, I know what it’s like to be in school. A lot of people voting don’t know what it’s like to be in school and haven’t been in school for like 40 years.”
If the referendum is approved, school officials plan to put the money toward building upgrades, more counselors, pay raises for teachers, and more.
Tracie Hauser says the whole reason she decided to vote in person was so she could make sure her vote yes for the referendum was counted.
“The fact that the ‘vote yes’ for the South Bend School District was not an option on some of those mail-in ballots is why we chose to come here today instead of mailing in.”
Brian Fitzpatrick is a former eighth grade teacher who voted at the Century Center in South Bend. He says a vote yes for the referendum is a vote yes for local teachers.
“I think it is inadvisable to punish teachers for the poor decisions of their school board. That’s what a ‘no’ vote would look like even though I understand the principle of not throwing good money after bad.”
Grant Wolf says he’s voting ‘no’ for the South Bend Schools referendum because he feels like the school corporation hasn’t been transparent.
“I’m voting no on it just because we have all these schools that aren’t being used. And they’re asking for $200 million when at first they said they were only asking for 75 (million), like no you’re not. You’re asking for 200 million over eight years.”
Contact Annacaroline at acaruso@wvpe.org or follow her on Twitter at @AnnacarolineC16
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