School eyes future

MEDORA — The head of one of the state’s smallest school corporations discussed the possibility of consolidation on Monday night.

“One of the things we’ve been told is to keep the community informed,” Superintendent John Reed told Medora Community School Corp. trustees during their monthly meeting in the school’s media center.

One way to keep the community informed would be by creating a Web site that would contain information about consolidation efforts and contact information for local legislators, Reed said.

“I think this is something really important for the board to think about,” Reed said.

He said it’s a good idea to try to figure out what the community wants.

Reed said he recently attended a daylong workshop organized by the Indiana Small and Rural Schools Association, an organization designed to help schools and districts identify and meet their educational goals and improve communications between small town and rural schools with the state.

The idea of consolidation has been pushed in recent years by Gov. Mitch Daniels as part of a bi-partisan study about streamlining government. A measure proposed during this year’s legislation, which would have consolidated corporations with fewer than 500 students with larger nearby districts, did not pass.

In 2008, Medora was the fifth smallest public school in the state with 278 students in kindergarten through high school.

That measure also would have consolidated schools with more than 500 students but fewer than 1,000 students if they failed to demonstrate academic achievement levels.

Reed said consolidation is still a possibility in the future, and if it should become reality, the state Reorganization Act of 1959 is still in place and would have to be followed. That act regulated and mandated school reorganizations in the state and provided for county commissions to initiate school reorganization within the county. Reed said Daniels’ primary concern involves how much it costs smaller schools to educate students.

Medora’s cost in 2008 was $7,510.50, but some other schools have much higher costs per pupil, Reed said.

One of those is Dewey Township Schools, which had the highest per pupil expenditure in the state at $12,862.63. The corporation is in LaPorte County. Cannelton City Schools had a per pupil expenditure of $9,751.32.

In Jackson County, Brownstown Central had the lowest per pupil expenditure in 2008 at $5,575.78. Seymour’s was $6,078.60 while Crothersville’s was $6,429.25.

Reed said many other questions remain unanswered, including who would take over a consolidated school’s debt.
“There are lots of issues to think about,” he said.

Reed’s wife, Lynn Reed, is a member of the Indiana Small and Rural Schools Association Board and is superintendent of Salem Community Schools in Washington County.

Online

To learn about the Indiana Small and Rural Schools Association, log on to www.indianasmallandrural.org/