Town Hall Mtg. Tonight On Education Funding
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Warsaw's two state representatives will be available tonight at a town hall meeting to publicly discuss education funding in Indiana.
State Sen. Kent Adams and state Rep. Dave Wolkins will attend the meeting at 7 p.m. today in Lakeview Middle School's auditorium.
The idea for the town hall format was proposed at the Feb. 17 Warsaw School Board meeting. Shortfalls in state funding for Warsaw Community Schools have been blamed for the need to cut high school teachers and elementary school counselors from the WCS budget.
Rande Thorpe, business manager for WCS, has long been a proponent of revising the state funding formula for education. At the school board meeting earlier this month, he said WCS does not receive as much money per student as the state average.
He said the 2002 average state expenditure per student statewide was $4,895, but in WCS the average per student was $4,710.
The state funding formula is faulty and unfair, he said, and, because of the state's and the country's financial problems, WCS will not receive as much from the state as planned.
"It's easy to identify the problem. It's not so easy to identify where the dollars are going to come from to fix it," he said.
Students at Warsaw Community High School, led by student body president Erin Elliott, have been writing letters to Adams and Wolkins and to other high schools in the state to pressure the Legislature to increase school funding.
Those issues, as well as the state's property tax situation, will be addressed tonight at the town hall meeting.
The meeting, sponsored by Warsaw Community Education Association, WCHS student council and WCS, is free and open to the public.
Harvey Miller of WRSW radio will moderate, and Adams and Wolkins will answer questions from each of the three sponsors, then take questions and comments from the audience. [[In-content Ad]]
Warsaw's two state representatives will be available tonight at a town hall meeting to publicly discuss education funding in Indiana.
State Sen. Kent Adams and state Rep. Dave Wolkins will attend the meeting at 7 p.m. today in Lakeview Middle School's auditorium.
The idea for the town hall format was proposed at the Feb. 17 Warsaw School Board meeting. Shortfalls in state funding for Warsaw Community Schools have been blamed for the need to cut high school teachers and elementary school counselors from the WCS budget.
Rande Thorpe, business manager for WCS, has long been a proponent of revising the state funding formula for education. At the school board meeting earlier this month, he said WCS does not receive as much money per student as the state average.
He said the 2002 average state expenditure per student statewide was $4,895, but in WCS the average per student was $4,710.
The state funding formula is faulty and unfair, he said, and, because of the state's and the country's financial problems, WCS will not receive as much from the state as planned.
"It's easy to identify the problem. It's not so easy to identify where the dollars are going to come from to fix it," he said.
Students at Warsaw Community High School, led by student body president Erin Elliott, have been writing letters to Adams and Wolkins and to other high schools in the state to pressure the Legislature to increase school funding.
Those issues, as well as the state's property tax situation, will be addressed tonight at the town hall meeting.
The meeting, sponsored by Warsaw Community Education Association, WCHS student council and WCS, is free and open to the public.
Harvey Miller of WRSW radio will moderate, and Adams and Wolkins will answer questions from each of the three sponsors, then take questions and comments from the audience. [[In-content Ad]]