Lake Station students will spend two school days a week at home doing remote learning when school begins in August because the district can’t afford bus transportation after voters rejected the extension of a property tax referendum in November 2023.
The fallout from losing the $1.3 million referendum extension began Tuesday as the school board voted to layoff 37 employees, including all of the district’s paraprofessionals who work in classrooms to support teachers. The layoffs save the district $635,160.
In addition to the busing changes, it also cut 18 extra-curricular jobs typically held by teachers. They range from the elementary science bowl sponsor to French, Spanish, and art sponsors. Edison High department chairs were eliminated along with the yearbook job. Those cuts save $49,405.
“I count 28 programs or clubs that have been cut because of the referendum failed,” said board president Greg Tenorio.
An undisclosed number of teachers face layoffs at a meeting in the coming weeks, said Superintendent Tom Cripliver.
English teacher and yearbook sponsor Elvides Pagan told the board there likely won’t be an Edison High yearbook next year for the first time since 1941 when the first one was printed.
Mayor Bill Carroll watched the somber meeting, which found school board member David Wright holding back tears in his final comments.
“Without a strong school district, you don’t have a strong city,” said Carroll after the meeting.
Carroll, who supported the referendum last November, said residents are already working to register voters as they promote another referendum vote, likely in November.
“This really stinks,” said board president Greg Tenorio. “I think e-learning will put their education back. Hopefully, it will be just until November if the referendum does pass.”
For now, though, the outlook is dim.
“I have three kids who go to Edison here, and they take the bus every morning,” said board member Kevin Music who explained with help from friends and relatives, his kids would be overseen during the two days each week of remote learning. “But I can’t fathom how much more difficult this will be for other families.”
Officials explained the district depended on part of its $1.3 million in referendum funding to shore up its bus transportation fund, which they said receives about $150,000 in state funding.
Tenorio said bus transportation costs the district about $800,000 annually.
“Our operating budget is normally $3.2 million… the referendum plugged that hole,” he said. “The naysayers who say we could keep it need to think about those numbers. Without the referendum, there’s no way of doing it,” he said.
State law requires school districts to operate in the black and not run up deficits, said Cripliver. He said the district is not under a corrective action plan imposed by the state, like the School City of Hammond, because it isn’t running any deficits.
In 2017, voters backed the district’s initial $1.3 million seven-year property tax referendum. Last year’s vote represented an extension of that referendum and wouldn’t increase property taxes. But its wording on the ballot confused voters into thinking their taxes would be increased, officials said.
“Keep in mind, the reason the referendum is necessary is because of circuit breakers on our taxes,” said Music. “At the end of the day, our tax cap loss was almost $1.6 million. That’s why we had the referendum and that’s why we wanted to continue it.
“For most people, it’s $15 a month. I don’t think we’re asking a whole lot to make a huge impact on our students,” said Music.
A year ago, when the school board voted to put the 2023 referendum on the ballot, board members Larry Biggs and Karen Curtis abstained from vote, saying they needed more information.
After the referendum failed, Tenorio angrily called for Curtis’s resignation in December, saying she campaigned against the referendum. Curtis denied the accusation.
On Tuesday, Curtis and Biggs voiced sorrow over Tuesday’s cutbacks.
“I quiver inside because this is damaging… we’re going to work real hard to get through this,” said Curtis.
After the meeting, Carroll called them out.
“They clearly put on a show,” he said.
Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Lake Station layoffs: two regular custodians, one substitute custodian, one nurse clerk, one elementary library clerk, two part-time bus mechanics, two elementary office clerks, seven summer work crew staff, 19 paraprofessionals, one assistant maintenance director and one administrator.
