Johnson County public schools are nearly $474 million in debt.
Among them, they have plans to pay off about 12 percent of that debt next year, with the county’s three largest school districts making up almost all of the debt and planned debt payments.
Center Grove, Clark-Pleasant and Franklin schools will have a combined $388.5 million in debt come Jan. 1, and will make about 85 percent of the county’s nearly $58 million in planned debt payments in 2020.
Those three school districts with the largest spending budgets are also the ones that proposed referendums in the last year, asking residents to raise their property taxes for bolstered security, mental health services and teacher raises. Clark-Pleasant and Franklin schools succeeded. Center Grove did not.
Money to pay off debt comes from property taxes, which flow into each school district’s debt service fund.
When schools build new buildings, or renovate or repair existing ones, they often go into debt in the form of general obligation bonds. They pay those bonds back over time. Those bonds cover a significant amount of the debt schools have.
For example, at Greenwood Community Schools, $3.5 million of its nearly $4 million in 2020 debt payments will go toward paying back the cost of high school renovations and construction of its middle school, which opened in 2017, according to school documents. Starting in 2020, Greenwood schools will still owe about $60 million, according to state documents.
School debt became a pivotal issue as Center Grove Community Schools pushed its referendum in advance of the Nov. 5 election. Voters criticized the construction of a $23.2 million natatorium, part of a $45 million high school renovation that will also include new classrooms with flexible furniture, new carpeting, walls and LED lights. The school district will pay off that debt over the course of 20 years, although nothing is earmarked for next year, according to school documents.
Center Grove schools is in too much debt to ask residents for money, White River Township resident Keith Poor said during a Center Grove school board meeting earlier this year.
“This administration is trying to build a Cadillac system. They have bonded themselves right into the poor house,” Poor said.
The natatorium was the ultimate reason Rich McFarren voted against the referendum, McFarren said.
“We don’t need another swimming pool for the high school and too many people in the education system get money for nothing,” he said.
But Center Grove schools does not have the ability to spend state money on the objectives it wanted to fund with the referendum, such as additional school security and mental health support, said Joe Hubbard, a school board member who campaigned outside a White River Township vote center on Tuesday.
“I’m trying to get them to understand what the referendum is for, since some people think since we’re funding a swimming pool we can fund (school security and mental health),” Hubbard said. “We have to spend money from the state on certain objectives, and the state doesn’t support financially investing in safety and security, so we’re asking the community for support.”
Unfortunately for Center Grove schools, just 36 percent of voters supported the proposed tax hike, which would have raised about $3.1 million per year over the course of eight years for increased security and mental health support only.
In 2020, Center Grove schools will pay off $19.1 million of its $173.7 million debt. The district will have to pay off $8.2 million in new loans as part of that debt, and anticipates spending most of that money by 2021. About $3 million of that money will go toward buying land for schools, including 25 to 40 acres for its next elementary school. The rest of that money will be spent on traffic flow improvements at Maple Grove Elementary School, maintenance, site improvement, technology and security upgrades across the district, school officials have said.
Clark-Pleasant Community Schools, which successfully passed a referendum last November to increase school security and mental health services, will pay off $15.5 million of its $105.4 million debt next year. That debt comprises of paying off old construction projects, such as renovations to the middle and high school buildings, site improvements at the high school’s athletic facilities, purchasing new school buses and renovations to Break-O-Day, Clark, Grassy Creek and Whiteland elementary schools, according to state documents.
Franklin Community Schools, which also passed a referendum earlier this year to boost teacher salaries and provide more mental health services for its students, will spend $14.8 million paying back some of its $109.4 million debt in 2020. It will pay off some of the money it borrowed to build its 12-year-old high school along with renovations to the middle school, as well as other loans used for various smaller renovations throughout the school district, according to state documents.
The three other Johnson County school districts are responsible for just about $85 million of the county’s $474 million public school debt. Greenwood schools accounts for the majority of that remaining debt.
Indian Creek schools will pay off $3.2 million of its $19.5 million debt, which will go toward a variety of renovations at its school buildings, renovations to the Central Nine Career Center and previous construction that added Indian Creek Elementary School to the intermediate school building, according to state documents.
Edinburgh Community Schools, which is considering a referendum to raise money for teacher salaries, various renovations and bus replacement, is paying off $1.1 million of its $5.6 million debt next year. That money will go toward repairs to the middle and high school locker rooms, the high school football field, high school roofing and the high school music room, and other smaller repairs at all of its buildings, Superintendent Doug Arnold said.
At $9.6 million, Edinburgh schools has the tightest 2020 budget of any Johnson County school district, meaning even though it has the least debt, it may still ask residents to raise their property taxes due to a shortage of overall funds. The biggest consequence of this lack of funds is teachers leaving for higher salaries elsewhere, Arnold said.
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Debt each school district will pay off in 2020, compared to total debt:
School district;2020 debt payments;total debt on Jan. 1, 2020
- Center Grove;$19.1 million;$173.7 million
- Clark-Pleasant;$15.5 million;$105.4 million
- Franklin;$14.8 million;$109.4 million
- Greenwood;$4 million;$60.2 million
- Indian Creek;$3.2 million;$19.5 million
- Edinburgh;$1.1 million;$5.6 million
Total;$57.7 million;$473.8 million
Source: Indiana Gateway for Government Units
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