This past Nov. 10, in this space, I wrote the following:

"If I was a member of the Warsaw School Board, I think I would be hard-pressed to launch into a major building program right now.

It just seems like a bad time to go $41 million in debt. ...

"... Gov. Frank O'Bannon is talking about the state budget being in crisis and floating the idea that there might have to be cuts in education funding.

"Pile on top of that the fact that property taxes are likely headed up anyway - somewhere in the neighborhood of at least 10 to 15 percent - because of reassessment and court-ordered restructuring of the state's property tax system. ...

"... So again, I wonder if now is the time for a school system to take on a bunch of public debt.

Wouldn't it be wise to wait a while and see if the state budget and the economy start to stabilize a little bit?"

Well, after I wrote that, one of the board members chided me a bit for my apparent lack of understanding of the workings of bond issues, etc.

The board member pointed out that when the economy is bad and interest rates are low, it's a good time to do a building project because you save money on bonding.

I thought to myself, yeah, that may be true, but even if you get a bond issue at 3 percent, 3 percent of $30 million dollars is a lot to fund during these uncertain economic times.

I also thought that if you build new buildings you probably have to add staff. How will that work if funds are cut?

But then I thought, that's just my opinion. What do I know?

Since that time, we have watched as local school corporations struggled with their budgets.

Some are still struggling. Some had to reduce numbers of teachers.

Some canceled summer school to save money.

A headline in the South Bend newspaper:

"Music programs under ax; Views differ on impact of proposed cost cut."

A headline in the Fort Wayne newspaper:

"FWCS to slash programs."

Fort Wayne Community Schools is facing a budget shortfall of $11 million.

South Bend Schools is cutting 140 jobs, several programs and closing a school to save nearly $10 million over the 2002 and 2003 school years.

So far, Warsaw Schools have fared pretty well when you consider all the budget problems other schools are having.

The last we heard is that no staff lay-offs are expected at Warsaw schools. To offset an anticipated $946,000 less in funding, the school corporation will make cuts in things like summer school and the gifted and talented program.

And we also heard, at the last school board meeting, this statement from WCS Business Manager Rande Thorpe, regarding the $31 million building program.

"We believe it's prudent to keep those things on hold" until it's clear what funding is coming from the state.

A pat on the back to the WCS and the school board. It think they're doing the right thing by going slow at floating a bond issue to fund a building program.

It's right for two reasons.

It protects the school corporation from potential financial problems down the road.

And it protects the taxpayers who eventually will have to pay the bills.

Ultimately, I would like to see WCS wait until the budget dispute between the governor and the Legislature is settled before moving forward.

Only then will we know what the impact of reassessment is going to be on our property taxes.

Only then will we know how much funding will be available for eduction in the immediate future.

Delaying the building program is a wise course of action. [[In-content Ad]]