School City of Hammond board listen during the comment period of a Hammond School Board meeting on January 9, 2024. The board recently voted to close three elementary schools and eliminate more than 173 employees as part of a variety of cost-cutting moves to avoid a $15 million budget deficit.
In November, voters overwhelmingly rejected the continuation of a property tax referendum that would have provided a lifeline for the schools, adding about $15 million for eight years to the district’s budget. Instead, Harris lamented state money was routed to charter schools and private schools through the state’s CHOICE voucher program.
Under a 2006 state law ushered in by GOP lawmakers, school districts must ask voters for more revenue if they want to exceed the 2% tax cap, a measure lawmakers felt would offer homeowners more property tax stability.