The Republic
PATRONS of the Flat Rock-Hawcreek School Corp. received a foreboding of what could emerge from this short session of the Indiana General Assembly when the school board bowed to the wishes of a state review board earlier this month.
School trustees pared $1.2 million from an $18.8 million building project after the Indiana School Property Tax Control Board challenged the scope of the original project.
While there have been precedents for the state board's action, this particular intrusion into a local government's decision raises the obvious concern that more is to come.
Given the scope of several pieces of legislation working through the General Assembly, that certainly is within the realm of possibility.
In the case of the Flat Rock-Hawcreek project, the intervention by the state board ran counter to the opinions not just of the locally elected school board but of an overwhelming majority of the property owners in the district.
The original $18.8 million project was years in the making and addressed shortcomings within the school corporation that had existed for decades.
This was not a project sprung on area residents through a series of back-door manipulations.
It was a transparent process that involved dialogue throughout the district.
That action was needed to address shortcomings and projected needs within the district was evidenced by support for the overall plan in a community that has been noted in the past for antipathy to major changes.
The plan was approved in a unanimous vote by school board members who had been elected by their neighbors.
It received another public test when a remonstrance was filed by opponents of the measure.
That remonstrance drew a tremendous public outpouring of support for the project in numerous Letters to the Editors of area newspapers.
More importantly, petition drives mounted by proponents and opponents and conducted among property owners clearly favored the undertaking.
By an almost 3-to-1 margin - 1,524 to 542 signatures - the property owners signaled their support for the project.
The reductions made by the board include reducing the proposed physical education facility by a third and eliminating three or four classrooms.
Board members were disappointed in having to make the deletions, especially since the original plan had been supported by the community.
As board member Tom Miller noted, "In response to being told we can't plan long-term, we're having to think short-term."
The result is even more aggravating in that the project thoroughly researched and adopted by people within the community is being altered by parties in Indianapolis who do not have direct ties to the Flat Rock-Hawcreek community.