How much more bond debt does the School City of Hammond have to accumulate before they realize they have the taxpayers in over their heads? When all the homes are boarded up because people have either lost them to foreclosure or just abandoned them?
The School City has built five new elementary schools in the past five years--O'Bannon, Jefferson, Irving, Harding and Joseph Hess. In addition, Clark, Morton Elementary, Morton High and Edison either had extensive remodeling or additions built.
As of December 31, 2005, the School City's outstanding principal and interest debt was $382 million, and this doesn't even include the costs of the new Harding and Joseph Hess schools. Who knows how much the debt is as of February 2008?
With this much debt, can the taxpayers of Hammond really afford a new high school?
Apparently, the Superintendent and the school board think we can because they are willing to spend another $100 million to build this new high school. And you know it will cost that and even more because of cost overruns and miscalculations in construction costs. Nothing ever costs what the original bid price was.
Are Superintendent Watkins and the School Board also not aware of Governor Daniels' plan to standardize school building plans to hold down construction costs? Are they also not aware of the amendment to House Bill 1001 to give citizens the right to a referendum on major building projects. Do they think these laws would apply to everybody else and not them? We hope they're not trying to pull a fast one!
And we're not saying the students of Hammond should not be properly educated in order to compete in the 21st century. Far from it. But a new building does not an education make. If that argument was true, then there would be no learning going on inside the University of Chicago Lab School. Despite the shabby condition of the building, many successful students graduate from there. Could it be because the emphasis is on the students' education and not the building. Could it also be because they demand success and not excuses for failure.
If the School City was really fiscally responsible, they would pay off their bond debt before they even entertain the idea of building a new high school because frankly, we taxpayers are tapped out.
Guess we better get out those remonstrance petitions. We're gonna need them and soon.