to upend that reality and ensure all, not just some, of our families enjoy world-class choices — from science, math and engineering-focused schools to Montessori programs to visual arts and music. The plan comes not from the formulations of bureaucrats but from the shared input of thousands of members of our community, who spoke out through a year of town hall conversations and surveys.
The resulting blueprint, Rebuilding Stronger, is a plan to bring excellence even as we correct financial imbalances that, without a change, would put our district budget in the red in 2026. It asks our community to do some hard things — including closing or consolidating some of our schools. The aim is to make sure we are doing every single thing in our power to focus our resources on what this community has said it values most — quality learning choices that all of our students can access.
But we cannot cost cut our way to sustainability and world-class learning opportunities for all our students. To get there, we are asking the citizens of Indianapolis to continue the wisdom they have shown by investing in our shared future — our children and their schools.That’s why we have announced our intent to pursue a pair of referendums that will appear together on the ballot in May 2023.
The cost most residents will see is small — about $6 monthly for the average homeowner. The gains for our children will be remarkable.Our community can be proud of its history supporting schools and children. Voters’ overwhelming support for an operating and capital referendum in 2018 enabled us to keep our promise to invest in teachers and staff, by increasing our average teacher compensation by 17% over 5 years, putting us at the top for Marion County starting teacher pay.
I’ve never sugar-coated anything for our community, and I’ll be candid that the stakes are high here. Without the voters’ generosity in this referendum, there is no path to the expanded offerings our community has so rightly demanded. There is no Plan B that will give us a quality, sustainable education for our children. A quality education ought to be a right. It’s on us to make it so.Safe, warm, welcoming buildings.
Unfortunately, I think this will be a tough sell. New buildings, renovated buildings, and moving students around don’t address the academic issues. I’ve been involved in an IPS school for 11 years. When only 9 of 20 parents take the time to attend a conference that is not good.
How about school choice? Nah How about another $450 million dollars? Hell yes!