In 2020 the South Bend school board went to the voters and said it was broke.
Not broke in a vague way. Broke on paper. On December 2, 2019, the board put it in a resolution: the corporation “is not going to be able to carry out its public educational duty unless it annually imposes a referendum tax levy of at least $20,800,000 for the years 2021 through and including 2028.”
Their fix was to raise property taxes, and they needed the public to vote on it. So Stephanie Ball went on camera and campaigned for it.
The ballot language was specific. Eight years of increased property taxes, up to 33.34 cents per hundred dollars of assessed value, for curriculum, for career pathways, for teacher pay, and for “comprehensive behavioral and emotional supports for students with counselors, college coaches and social workers in each building.“
Each building.
The referendum passed. $20.8 million a year for eight years is $166.4 million. The capital authorization added a one time charge of $54 million. Call it $220 million over eight years.
Three years later, Stephanie Ball voted to close Clay High School and Warren Elementary.
The vote was 4 to 3. Had Ball voted the other way, Clay High School and Warren Elementary would have remained open.
Thirty-four million dollars of the money she campaigned for was earmarked for “right-sizing the district.”
On March 20, 2023, consultants brought the board the community survey. South Bend opposed closing Clay, 49 percent against and 30 percent for.
Clay families had answered in outsized numbers, so the consultants weighted the results by enrollment and ran them again. Opposed, 39 to 35. They weighted them a third time, counting each high school equally. Opposed, 45 to 31.
One survey, weighted three ways. The public said no to closing Clay High School every time.
Even though Ball had those results on March 20, she still voted to close Clay on April 17.
Then there is the Clay High School roof.
The district’s four-year capital summary shows $1,455,047 spent on Clay High School, $857,325 in 2019 and $597,722 in 2021, for a fire alarm, a roof replacement, an energy upgrade, and ceilings and lighting.
The district fixed the roof in 2021. Ball closed the school in 2023.
Clay graduated its last class in 2024. Warren Elementary closed the same summer. The north end of South Bend no longer has a public high school.
In November 2024, the voters voiced their dissatisfaction. Ball ran for reelection and lost.
Now she is the Democratic nominee for Clerk of the St. Joseph County Circuit Court.
Go to her campaign website and you will find a candidate who claims to have a record of public service. What you will not find is her resume regarding Clay High School. That resume would say: I voted to close Clay High School, I voted to close Warren Elementary School, and I campaigned to raise your property taxes.
Stephanie Ball closed Clay High School.
Logan Foster
Logan Foster is the founder and editor of Redress South Bend, an independent news outlet covering local government, courts, and public institutions in South Bend and St. Joseph County, Indiana. He reports from primary documents: public records requests, court filings, state audit reports, and campaign finance disclosures. His reporting has examined city and school district payments made without competitive bidding, school board spending, and the records of candidates in county races. Redress South Bend obtained the South Bend Police Department's ShotSpotter coverage map after the department initially denied public access. The outlet is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Online News Association. Reach him at info@redresssouthbend.com
