Steps moving forward after IRSD Referendum passes

Indian River School District's Interim Superintendent Mark Steele is beyond relieved that the $7.35 million referendum passed with 7,095 votes to 5,394 votes, which was largest voter turnout in school district history with 12, 489 voices heard.

With the referendum passing, the first thing done will be to complete program reviews.

Even though the local funding was secured through the referendum vote, the district is still at the mercy of the state budget and once that happens they'll have to have a plan how to take care of those funding cuts.

Steele believes it's the possibility of state cuts that galvanized voters.

Steele states, "When everybody started hearing about the state cuts on top of this, I think parents really looked at it and then they really thought, wow this is major. I think the parents this time really came out to vote and 10,000, 11,000 kids that's a lot of parents. That's an awful lot of parents if you think about it."

Steele tells 47 ABC that the biggest relief of the referendum passing, the amount of jobs saved.

He claims nearly 200 people would have been at risk of losing their employment.

Despite dodging that bullet, Steele says he understands that some residents are not happy with the voting results.

Steele tells 47 ABC, "It's okay if somebody doesn't support it, it's okay for someone to have a different view, but I don't want to have two communities in the Indian River District. I want one community and at the end of the day whether you supported it or didn't support it I just want this community to be able to get along."

The property tax increase will be an average of about $93 per household.

Residents will see this increase come September.

Steele tells us that Facebook Live really helped them reach voters and now they plan to use the app for board meetings, too.

Steele says this form of social media facilitates transparency.