Hoffman Hopes for Fourth Term on TVSC Board
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
He’d like voters to give him another four-year term.
“Basically, to continue to see through what has been taking place,” Hoffman said during an interview Thursday morning. “We just put up the windmill. I’d like to see that project farther. I feel like now, finally, we probably have the best lineup of administration we’ve had since I’ve been on the board. And, especially, in the middle school, which has needed our attention. I would love to see that through. I think the new administrative team at the middle school is going to be a major asset.”
As for challenges for the Valley school corporation, Hoffman said declining enrollment is a major issue.
“I think a lot of it is the economy,” he said. While Valley does get a lot of kids who transfer to it, a lot of Valley kids also transfer out. “If it’s parents moving away to a job far away, that’s one thing. But, when it’s the kids just transferring from our school to a neighboring school, we need to pin that down. Find out exactly why they’re leaving, and try to deal with that.”
The declining enrollment, he said, wasn’t an issue for Valley until the last couple years. It’s starting to become serious. For every child, Valley gets money from the state. If that child leaves, Hoffman said Valley’s expenses stay the same and increase every year, but that money is gone. The problem then just builds.
Hoffman said Valley needs to be more prepared with a brochure or some other literature to give to parents if they are considering transferring their child to Valley. “We just need to sell ourselves better,” he said.
He said he’d like to see more vocational courses offered at Valley, as well as possibly teaming up with other area schools, to offer students more choices.
“We definitely need to try and help out our enrollment numbers,” he said.
Valley’s grade assessment this year has turned around and improved, Hoffman said. ISTEP scores keep getting better, and a good administration team is in place, which in turn will filter down. Valley is also looking at a one-to-one program where every high school student would have a laptop.
“This one-to-one is a very technical move. So it’s costly, it’s very costly. So it’s a balancing act. It’s going to be a big move, and hopefully it works out in the high school. As soon as we see it’s working in the high school and we have all the bugs working out, I’d be happy to move right on down the grades,” he said.
One of the biggest projects in the last few years was the 300-foot-tall wind turbine, which was projected to save Valley lots of money on energy costs.
“We’ve probably had more down time than we cared for this first year. ... The biggest downtime was some type of a switch. And it couldn't be replaced here in the U.S.,” Hoffman said. “That was a big chunk of downtime. In the long run, I think this thing will be a bigger asset than what we’re thinking at the moment. I think electricity is going to escalate probably higher and faster than we all think. And when it does, that thing pays faster and more back to us. So it’s a long-term investment, and I think it will be a good thing in the long run.”
Asked why voters should choose him over his opponent, Tom Craft, Hoffman said, “I guess one thing is ... I’ve run my own business for most of my life and that is probably the biggest asset I bring to the board – my business sense. I would say 75 percent plus of the time the decisions over there has to do with business, and that is huge.”
The other reason, he said, is that he pays real estate taxes to the school and he wasn’t too sure if Craft does. It’s real easy to waste someone else's money, but when part of it is yours, it becomes very difficult to waste money, he said. Therefore, part of the school is Hoffman’s investment, and that's the way he treats it, he said.
“I try my best to get the biggest bang for my buck on any issue. Ultimately, it comes down to, you can have all the good ideas you want for that school, but if you don’t have the financing for those ideas, you might as well as sit in a corner because you can’t do anything with them,” Hoffman said. “It all comes down to being fiscally responsible and having the money to do what you want to do. And that’s what I’ve tried to do since day one and I hope that’s what the people think I’ve been doing.”
He grew up on a farm in Yellow Creek Lake. He went to school at Burket, Akron and Talma, graduating from Tippecanoe Valley High School in 1975 as part of its first graduating class. Hoffman is married to Aime and they have three children, Stacie, Rob and Aaron. He farms grain for a living, and sits on the advisory board for the Warsaw Beacon Credit Union Branch.[[In-content Ad]]
Latest News
E-Editions
He’d like voters to give him another four-year term.
“Basically, to continue to see through what has been taking place,” Hoffman said during an interview Thursday morning. “We just put up the windmill. I’d like to see that project farther. I feel like now, finally, we probably have the best lineup of administration we’ve had since I’ve been on the board. And, especially, in the middle school, which has needed our attention. I would love to see that through. I think the new administrative team at the middle school is going to be a major asset.”
As for challenges for the Valley school corporation, Hoffman said declining enrollment is a major issue.
“I think a lot of it is the economy,” he said. While Valley does get a lot of kids who transfer to it, a lot of Valley kids also transfer out. “If it’s parents moving away to a job far away, that’s one thing. But, when it’s the kids just transferring from our school to a neighboring school, we need to pin that down. Find out exactly why they’re leaving, and try to deal with that.”
The declining enrollment, he said, wasn’t an issue for Valley until the last couple years. It’s starting to become serious. For every child, Valley gets money from the state. If that child leaves, Hoffman said Valley’s expenses stay the same and increase every year, but that money is gone. The problem then just builds.
Hoffman said Valley needs to be more prepared with a brochure or some other literature to give to parents if they are considering transferring their child to Valley. “We just need to sell ourselves better,” he said.
He said he’d like to see more vocational courses offered at Valley, as well as possibly teaming up with other area schools, to offer students more choices.
“We definitely need to try and help out our enrollment numbers,” he said.
Valley’s grade assessment this year has turned around and improved, Hoffman said. ISTEP scores keep getting better, and a good administration team is in place, which in turn will filter down. Valley is also looking at a one-to-one program where every high school student would have a laptop.
“This one-to-one is a very technical move. So it’s costly, it’s very costly. So it’s a balancing act. It’s going to be a big move, and hopefully it works out in the high school. As soon as we see it’s working in the high school and we have all the bugs working out, I’d be happy to move right on down the grades,” he said.
One of the biggest projects in the last few years was the 300-foot-tall wind turbine, which was projected to save Valley lots of money on energy costs.
“We’ve probably had more down time than we cared for this first year. ... The biggest downtime was some type of a switch. And it couldn't be replaced here in the U.S.,” Hoffman said. “That was a big chunk of downtime. In the long run, I think this thing will be a bigger asset than what we’re thinking at the moment. I think electricity is going to escalate probably higher and faster than we all think. And when it does, that thing pays faster and more back to us. So it’s a long-term investment, and I think it will be a good thing in the long run.”
Asked why voters should choose him over his opponent, Tom Craft, Hoffman said, “I guess one thing is ... I’ve run my own business for most of my life and that is probably the biggest asset I bring to the board – my business sense. I would say 75 percent plus of the time the decisions over there has to do with business, and that is huge.”
The other reason, he said, is that he pays real estate taxes to the school and he wasn’t too sure if Craft does. It’s real easy to waste someone else's money, but when part of it is yours, it becomes very difficult to waste money, he said. Therefore, part of the school is Hoffman’s investment, and that's the way he treats it, he said.
“I try my best to get the biggest bang for my buck on any issue. Ultimately, it comes down to, you can have all the good ideas you want for that school, but if you don’t have the financing for those ideas, you might as well as sit in a corner because you can’t do anything with them,” Hoffman said. “It all comes down to being fiscally responsible and having the money to do what you want to do. And that’s what I’ve tried to do since day one and I hope that’s what the people think I’ve been doing.”
He grew up on a farm in Yellow Creek Lake. He went to school at Burket, Akron and Talma, graduating from Tippecanoe Valley High School in 1975 as part of its first graduating class. Hoffman is married to Aime and they have three children, Stacie, Rob and Aaron. He farms grain for a living, and sits on the advisory board for the Warsaw Beacon Credit Union Branch.[[In-content Ad]]
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092