Here’s why Pike Township schools are asking for a tax increase

(MIRROR INDY) — Christi Harden flashes three words on the screen at the front of the room: Boat. Toad. Coast.

“If I were going to spell a word and I wanted to spell the word coat, I need to hear how many sounds?” Harden says, as her students join in. “Cuh-OH-tuh. How many sounds do I hear?”

“Three!” a student pipes up as Harden once again repeats the long “OH” sound in the middle of the word.

Harden is an academic interventionist at Pike Township’s Central Elementary School and today she’s teaching students about vowel sounds. It’s a lesson she picked specifically for the six third graders who were directed to her this spring for a little extra help learning to read.

“It’s huge, being able to give them that intervention time,” Harden said. “For students that are behind academically, we’re trying to figure out why and what types of things we can put in place to close that gap quickly.”

“The funds are going away,” Pike Superintendent Larry Young said, “But the need is still there.”

Harden’s position, however, is on the ballot this spring as Pike Township Schools seek a tax increase to continue offering a type of academic support first provided to students early in the coronavirus pandemic.

Pike, like school districts across the country, found itself flush with new federal money after schools closed in spring 2020. The district was awarded nearly $37 million over three rounds of funding and, with it, hired several school counselors and academic interventionists to work with students.

Those federal dollars, however, will come to an end in September, so now the district is seeking an operating referendum that’s expected to collect almost $16 million annually for staff retention and school safety.

[The school district will receive $20,000 from Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation.]

What residents pay into the referendum would vary based on their home’s value. District officials estimate a Pike Township taxpayer, with the township’s average home value of  $237,200, would pay about $24.60 a month.

It’s something Pike has never had to do before, but is seeking now because of the progress students are making with the new interventions adopted during the pandemic.

“The funds are going away,” Pike Superintendent Larry Young said, “But the need is still there.”

Sustaining support for reading

Harden’s entire job is helping kids learn to read. She’s one of eight interventionists in the district paid through federal pandemic money. 

Unlike a classroom teacher who might work with the same 25 students a day, Harden works with more than a hundred students — usually one-on-one or in small groups — in daily half-hour meetings.

Central Elementary uses Lexia, a colorful, computer-based reading tool, to assess how students are doing with specific literacy concepts. Do they struggle with letter sounds? Do they understand what a short passage is about? The program, which customizes its activities to each student, tracks that information in real time.

As students complete the game-like exercises, their answers are recorded and provided to Central Elementary educators so Harden and other interventionists know which students to group together and what lessons to work on during their designated “What I Need,” or WIN, time.

The interventionists’ support, Principal Gail McGee said, has led to gains for Central Elementary. The school emerged from a status as one of the state’s lowest performing schools, the principal said, after it introduced its Lexia approach. For McGee, the movement is an indication that the interventionists work.

“It wasn’t that we weren’t working hard,” McGee said, “I think we just needed to shift some of the things we were doing.”

What else is in the referendum?

The eight interventionists aren’t the only positions that could be protected with referendum money.

Federal pandemic relief money also is paying for three elementary school counselors and one middle school social worker. A referendum would allow Pike to continue those positions as well as provide competitive pay to teachers, refresh classroom technology and make improvements to school security.

The annual budget breaks down as follows:

• $4.5 million to sustain pandemic programs. This includes salaries for about 57 staff — including teachers, interventionists and social workers — and replacing technology, like student laptops.
• $9 million for staff retention. This supports a portion of wages for all of Pike’s instructional staff, including teachers, therapists, secretaries, custodians and administrators.
• $1 million for school safety and security. This extends to salary and benefits for all security staff and the purchase of safety equipment.

Pike canceled school for several days in 2021 after teachers and bus drivers called off work during contract disputes with the district. Teacher pay in the district has increased since then but Young, who became superintendent in 2022, said the district can do more to attract and retain educators in a crowded field of teaching opportunities.

He said he often thinks about the 10 other school districts in Marion County and many others in surrounding suburbs.

[Learn when and where folks in Marion County can vote early.]

“What that means is, an educator — no matter where they currently live — they have an option and choice of over 20 employers,” Young said. “That makes it very challenging.”

The district also could use the referendum to add staff to its safety team of eight school resource officers and seven security personnel. Young said the district also is looking to modernize its equipment, such as potentially buying new metal detectors that quickly scan and detect metal objects among large crowds.

“One of the challenges of, for example, using the old-fashioned metal detectors … is that we have a high school that’s over 3,000 students, plus staff,” Young said. “We want to take every step we can to ensure our students and staff are safe.”

Will charter schools get a slice?

What’s less clear is how much money Pike will have to share with area charter schools.

A new law requires districts in four Indiana counties to share operational referendum money with certain charter schools. Pike’s referendum will mark the first time an Indianapolis district has requested a tax increase since that law went into effect last year. 

Any charter school, regardless of where it’s located, can request a share of the money as long as one of their students lives in Pike Township.

Young said 15 charter schools — none physically located in the township — have expressed interest in sharing the tax dollars, though the superintendent said he believes none have fulfilled requirements to receive the money. Young declined to share specifically which requirements he thinks the schools failed to meet, but said he would make his case for it if the referendum passes.

Pike Township residents are “vehemently” opposed to charter schools, Young told Mirror Indy, signaling that the district could be gearing up for a fight to keep money in Pike Township should the referendum pass.

The referendum campaign comes about a year after residents fought back efforts from a charter school affiliated with Hillsdale College — a private, Christian institution in southern Michigan —- to open in Pike Township.

The School City of Hammond, in Lake County near Chicago, was the first Indiana school district touched by the new law last fall. Their $14.6 million-a-year referendum attempt, coming after a contentious decision years before to close two high schools, failed with more than 70% voting against the proposed tax increase.

What if the referendum doesn’t pass?

Pike is asking taxpayers to support a referendum that lasts eight years, the maximum amount of time allowed by state law. If the referendum doesn’t pass, Young says the district will need to scale back.

Academic support for students likely wouldn’t continue at the same level and staff positions would disappear over time.

“We may have other positions that aren’t supported by those federal relief dollars that we would want those folks to move into,” Young said. “But, if you talk about overall number of staff, not people, then absolutely, we would have to look at less adults working with children in schools.”

That could mean less of the interventionist support that principals like McGee rely on to back teachers.

McGee knows how vital the interventionists are. She used to be an elementary school reading specialist for the district. She helped usher in a new reading curriculum that schools across the state are beginning to adopt.

“We’re a well-oiled machine,” McGee said of the interventionists at Central Elementary. “I can’t lose them.”

Want to learn more?

The language Pike Township residents will see on their ballot is complex, prescribed by state law and can be viewed here before voting. A simple “yes” indicates approval of the tax increase and “no” votes it down.

Residents can find out how much their taxes would change if the referendum passes by using a calculator posted to the Pike Township schools website. 

Early voting opened across Indiana on April 9 and primary election day is May 7.

Mirror Indy reporter Carley Lanich covers early childhood and K-12 education. Contact her at carley.lanich@mirrorindy.org or follow her on X @carleylanich.