Last week’s Delphi Community School Corporation’s referendum vote results indicated more voters did not want the school corporation to spend taxpayers dollars up to $21,760,000 at one time for renovations on the middle and high schools than did. Although it was considered by board members to be a loss for the students, the DCSC vote was not unusual across Indiana.

According to a report from the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance, there have been 18 referenda since July 2008. Five were held before January 2009 – four were successful and one was not. It should be noted one of the successes was for a jail, not a school building project.

After the first of the year 13 referenda were held. One was officially classified as “withdrawn.” Out of the 12 remaining, only two were successful and 10 were not.

According to Larry DeBoer, Professor of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University, the Indiana referenda history is not unique.

“Illinois holds elections twice a year, during primaries and in November,” he wrote recently. “In February 2008, 14 of 20 referenda passed. In November 2008, four of 10 passed. In April 2009, only one of eight passed.”

“Illinois has seen a pattern like Indiana’s,” DeBoer continued. “Fewer school bond issues passed as the economy got worse. Looking back, the share of Illinois bond referenda that passed was particularly low in 1975, 1982 and 1991, which were all recession years.”

DCSC board president Robert Resler said after the votes were tallied and announced June 16, that the school corporation would be unable to accomplish any building renovation under the current circuit breaker.

“First of all, I would like to say that this is not a loss for the school board or the superintendent,” he said after the unofficial results were revealed June 16. “The only losers are the children and the taxpayers. The children are losers because we cannot make the needed repairs that have been put off too long and we will be limited in providing for better educational opportunities in the future.”

Resler further stated that a $9 million project, which was suggested by opponents, would be funded not from just corporation patrons but all county taxpayers.

The board will meet in special session June 29 at 7 p.m. However Resler said the matter would not likely be discussed then. He said he expected the discussion to happen in July after the board elects new officers. The board will meet in regular session July 13 at 7 p.m.

The following “unofficial” chart details how voters in each school district precinct voted, according to the Carroll County Clerks Office.

Township	Total votes	Yes votes (%)	No votes (%)
Deer Creek 1	243	106 (43.62%)	137 (56.38%)
Deer Creek 3	163	95 (58.28%)	68 (41.72%)
Deer Creek 5	108	57 (52.78%)	51 (47.22%)
Tippecanoe 1	82	32 (39.02%)	50 (60.98%)
Tippecanoe 2	64	26 (40.63%)	38 (59.38%)
Liberty	59	6 (10.17%)	53 (89.83%)
Jackson	173	33 (19.41)	137 (80.59%)
Madison	69	32 (46.38%)	37 (53.62%)
Total	1,011	403 (39.98%)	605 (60.02%)

*As reported by the Carroll County Clerks Office as “unofficial” results Friday, June 19.