LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Submitted by Evert Mol
About a month from now, blue and yellow petitions will be going out into the community to decide the outcome of the Fort Wayne Community Schools $500 ($850 with interest) million bond issue. Don’t wait until someone knocks on your door asking you to sign a petition to start asking questions. I represent those who are opposed to the FWCS Facilities Improvement Plan and there are many reasons why we think this project, if approved, will be detrimental to our community.
Let me begin by saying that those of us who oppose this project don’t object to spending money to keep our buildings in good repair. But this project goes way beyond that and doesn’t address the real problem in this school district. That problem is not declining buildings but declining academic achievement. The district’s overall passing rate on the English portion of the Graduation Qualifying Exam (GQE), the last test high school sophomores must pass to get a diploma, is 57% and dropping. Math scores are tied to literacy. Since only 50% of our high school freshmen read at grade level, the math pass rate is 54% and dropping. The scores reflect what I see in classrooms. The biggest tragedy is that passing rates for black students are only half of those for white students. Same books, same teachers, same buildings, but barely 30% passing. Third grade test scores, which measure the foundation we’re building for future graduates, are stagnant in English and dropping in math. We are years away from seeing any improvement in GQE scores and we are seeing no progress in turning things around. What we’re seeing instead is a massive building project.
The FWCS administration’s response is that our academic achievement scores are comparable to other urban districts. But our district and its graduates are not just competing against other urban districts. They and the district are competing against suburban districts in Allen County and private schools in the city and on average they’re losing badly. GQE passing rates are 9% behind East Allen, 27% behind Northwest Allen and 30% behind Southwest Allen. The gap versus parochial and private schools is even bigger. Snyder, our best high school with 70% passing, is 16 points behind Homestead. 70% may sound like a good number but, south of Coliseum Blvd., we have a different situation. Passing rates at North Side and South Side are in the mid 40’s. These schools were both remodeled at a total cost of $100 million. So if you think better buildings translates into higher test scores, think again.
This project won’t give us higher test scores or improve the prospects of a single graduate. Our economy today requires more education…education beyond the high school level. But when we proudly say that 76% of our graduates pursue a college education we don’t say that 2/3 of them will spend the first year taking remedial courses. They have to take high school over again. What this project will give us is the highest school tax rates for the lowest test scores in the county. The 25% property tax increase from this project will only speed up the exodus of business and homeowners from this district and prevent more families from moving into the district. Concerned parents look at the quality of education before they consider the age of the buildings.
This $850 million dollar project was supposedly conceived to correct deterioration in our buildings. Over the past ten years the $25 million annual capital improvement budget has been diverted to other things. We have been told time and time again that this project was needed to catch up with neglected maintenance and that none of the items were a “wish list”. There may be undone maintenance, but frankly we don’t know how much there is. Before Christmas we were told Elmhurst High School had to be closed because of bad boilers, leaky roof, leaky pipes, overloaded electrical system and cracked foundations from blasting at the nearby gravel pit. None of that was true and after some school board members looked for themselves they voted to keep it open. And ironically, Elmhurst, which was to be demolished due to its deteriorating condition, has no money budgeted for repairs in this $500 million facilities improvement package.
In fact most of the items in the project are a wish list recommended by the Yellow Ribbon Task Force. Members of this task force were selected by the district…2/3 of them hand picked by the superintendent herself. They worked with a consultant from Indianapolis who was paid $450,000 to suggest and sell upgrades instead of concentrating on maintenance, thus paving the way for the enormous price tag. What’s the justification for enlarged classrooms, telecommunication system upgrades, expanded clinics, additional art and music room storage, expanded science labs, new gymnasiums and a new $35 million “high tech career center” for kids who can’t do math? Why do wholesale replacements of piping systems and roofs? Piping integrity doesn’t depend on age. Where is the documentation on the frequency and cost of roof repairs? How is air conditioning justified? The superintendent has tried to get air conditioning approved separately by the school board on several previous occasions but they voted it down because it would typically be used for only 15 days out of the year. It looks like the way to get a wish list justified is to lump it into an $850 million dollar project and claim it’s all necessary to keep the buildings from deteriorating.
If Indiana law provided for voter referendums on school projects, we wouldn’t be looking at this enormous figure. But what we have is a petition and remonstrance process, which puts the burden on taxpayers who object. If no one initiates the process, the district is home free. So they have put their efforts into a promotion and sales campaign, hoping they don’t have to justify their wish list.
The petition process will begin on June 1 and will last through July 2. Unlike the Harrison Square project, district property owners have the chance to decide this bond issue. It won’t be easy. Success depends on getting people to carry blue petitions into their neighborhoods, workplaces, churches, libraries, stores or any other likely place where they can gather signatures from property owners. There are about 55,000 owner occupied residences in the district. The other side is trying to find 1000 volunteers to knock on their doors. We don’t know if that’s the right number, but obviously the more people that choose to participate, the easier it will be to prevail. If you sit back and wait for someone to come knocking on your door don’t act surprised when your property tax bill goes up 25%. (And that is in addition to the 25% property tax increase predicted by our legislators).
Don’t wait. Take the initiative! To help, sign up on our website www.codeblueschools.org or call 456-8382 to volunteer to carry a petition or to volunteer at one of the libraries. Keep the size of your future tax bill and mortgage payment in your hands and not in the hands of the Fort Wayne Community School system.
Evert Mol
Code Blue Schools
Evert Mol is a retired Chemical Engineer who volunteers as a teacher’s assistant at Elmhurst High School and Indian Village. He has become a leader of the remonstrance against Fort Wayne Community Schools $500 million Facilities Improvement Plan. He and other concerned citizens formed Code Blue Schools believing that, without an improvement in the district’s academic performance, the 25% tax increase resulting from this project will be detrimental to the city. We believe that without an improvement in the district’s academic performance the tax increase resulting from this project will be detrimental to the city.
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