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INDIANAPOLIS--A second tax hike proposal was approved by the Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) Board Tuesday night. 

The board voted unanimously in favor of a $315 million operating referendum over the next 8 years. That money would help cover things like teacher salaries and raises.

That proposal now goes on the November ballot. 

They already passed a $52 million capital referendum to pay for safety and security upgrades among other expenses. 

The latest proposal is still a significant drop from IPS’ initial $1 billion proposal last year but is more than three times the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce’s $100 million proposal that was approved last week. 

The IPS Board will meet again next Tuesday and could decide to change the amount of the referendum between now and then. 

The Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce released a statement after the referendum was approved: 

Over the last four months we’ve worked Dr. Ferebee and his team with unprecedented access and transparency to build an exciting new blueprint for IPS: Paying teachers and principals more than any other local school system, driving more resources into the classroom, and protecting taxpayers by embracing efficiency.

We found more than a half-billion dollars in savings across IPS operations, and started with a scenario that funded higher salaries and fixed the budget deficit with no new taxes.  But we listened to IPS, and scaled back or slowed down some recommendations to arrive at our proposal for a $100 million operating referendum.

We stand behind this plan, but have kept working with Dr. Ferebee and President O’Connor on alternatives. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to resolve the differences and remain far apart.

We’re concerned that our numbers are so divergent. We need to study the assumptions behind the $315 million request; clearly the tax impact is significant and the task of winning voter support will be challenging. 

(PHOTO: RTV6)