ELKHART, Ind. -- Elkhart Community Schools' plan to issue $10 million worth of bonds cleared a big hurdle as it recently garnered enough signatures in support of the initiative to move forward in issuing the bonds.
In total, 2,486 signatures on petitions were signed in support of the initiative and 1,531 remonstrances were signed against the issuing of the bonds, said Office Manager of Voter Registration Chad Clingerman.
In order to advance the issuing of bonds, more petition signatures needed to be collected than remonstrance signatures.
Clingerman said the process is "now in the schoolboard's hands," as they can move forward with issuing the bonds as they please. The school board has yet to announce the results of the petition and remonstrance signature process.
Because the bond amount did not exceed $10 million, according to Indiana legislative code, the school corporation did not have to have the bond issuance approved by ballot initiative.
The $10 million worth of bonds will be used to fund the school corporation's largescale reforms that it had announced, including most notably combining the Elkhart Memorial and Elkhart Central High Schools.
Despite some public backlash to the proposed changes, School Board President Susan Daiber has said in the past she believes a majority of people in the community want this to happen.
Daiber estimated that individuals in favor of the project outnumbered those opposed three-to-one, which, in light of the recent signature process, seems a high estimate.
"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 school board has said that regardless of whether or not the $10 million worth of bonds was disapproved by the public, it had planned to move forward with the wide-ranging sets of reforms it had announced in 2015.
Deputy Superintendent Dawn McGrath has said she doesn't believe results of the bond process should be interpreted as the public's support or disapproval of the school's reform plans as a whole.
"The bond is really about whether or not we can afford construction at the high school at a faster rate," she said. "That's what it is."
