ELKHART, INd. -- Petitions and remonstrances -- signatures in support and opposed to -- the extensive school project proposed by the Elkhart Community School Board, which includes merging the two Elkhart high schools into one, have been collected by the Voter Registration Department and were sent to the county auditor on July 6.
Now, the county auditor has until July 16 to verify that individuals who signed in support or against the proposal own property within the school district before the signatures are sent back to the Voter Registration Department.
If the side supporting the project collects more signatures, the Elkhart Community Schools Board is free to move forward in selling $10 million worth of bonds. If the side opposing the project collects more signatures, the Board cannot move forward in selling the bonds and must restart the process, should it still wish to issue those bonds.
Regardless of the result of the petition and remonstrance signature process, the school board has said it will move forward with the project. In total, the project will cost an estimated $40 million, $10 million of that potentially funded by the issuing of bonds.
In April, the school board determined the bond amount of $10 million and was required to collect 500 signatures from property-owning individuals within the school district, per state law. Because the bond amount does not exceed $10 million, according to the Indiana legislative code, a popular referendum was not needed to advance the proposal
Despite not warranting a ballot initiative, petitions must still outnumber remonstrances in order to move the bond proposal forward.
School Board President Susan Daiber has said she believes a majority of people are generally supportive of the project, despite public backlash to the plan, particularly to the proposal to merge Elkhart Memorial and Elkhart Central into one high school.
"I feel from what we have already, the majority of people do want this to happen," Daiber said. "From what we gathered before we voted, we're three-to-one with people who believe in this process. I want to say that I am listening to constituents, but I am listening in my heart to the facts."
The plan was proposed in 2015 and adopted by the Elkhart Community School Board of Trustees in 2016. Among the proposed changes include moving sixth-graders into middle school to make space for pre-kindergarten programs, creating a ninth-grade academy and fourth middle school at Elkhart Central and, most controversially, merge Elkhart Memorial and Elkhart Central to create Elkhart High School.
