Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Opponents of Warsaw Community Schools' proposed school closings attacked on a second front Wednesday by providing evidence to state officials on alleged improprieties in the WCS 2004 budget.
Citizens who petitioned the state's Department of Local Government Finance in opposition to the proposed WCS capital projects fund aired their grievances at the Kosciusko County courthouse Wednesday before two hearing officers.
Led by John Price, attorney for the Concerned Citizens for Quality Education, the opponents charged that the CPF improperly included funds for the three schools - Atwood, Claypool and Silver Lake - that will be closed after the current school year. They also said the tax rate for the CPF exceeds the maximum allowed by the state, and that expenditures in the fund - including fees for land acquisition, professional services, land improvement, building rental and maintenance - should not go through the CPF.
The proposed CPF amount for 2004 is $6,547,861 and includes:
¥ land, acquisition and development - $94,000
¥ fees for professional services - $100,000
¥ building acquisition, construction and improvement - $1,576,950
¥ rental of buildings and equipment - $16,000
¥ purchase of mobile or fixed equipment - $1,845,050
¥ emergency allocation - $1,136,000
¥ utility services - $380,000
¥ maintenance of equipment - $708,707
¥ other staff services - $164,697
¥ technology support and maintenance - $526,457
Many of the objections were requests for more specific information. Angela Fulton, of Silver Lake, wanted to know what professional services are intended, what the emergency funds would include and the process for the emergency allocation, what the $100,000 budgeted for general improvements to the maintenance facility would include and why the high school rents the Little League field for $6,000 and the CCAC for $10,000 when the school corporation has its own baseball and soccer fields.
Gordon Vanator objected to the proposed expenditures for the three schools to be closed. Those expenditures are $148,235 for 2004 and a total of $915,330 for 2004-06.
"If we close these schools, where is that money going to go, how is it going to be used and who's going to decide?" Vanator asked.
Rande Thorpe, business manager for WCS, said the school corporation's budget is posted on the WCS Web site and the CPF is developed over a seven-month process that includes several public meetings and published legal ads on the budget and the individual funds.
The budget was adopted at the school board's Sept. 15 meeting, Thorpe said, and "during that meeting, extensive opportunity was given to the public for comment." There was no comment on the CPF, he said.
"The CPF does include funds for buildings that are at this time in service but are not expected to be in service after this year," he said. That is because the CPF was developed before the board's vote to close those schools.
However, he said, the items to be purchased still will need to be purchased, building purchases will be only for safety and out of necessity and expenditures for those buildings still will be needed until June.
Noting that a lawsuit has been filed to stop the closings of the schools, he said, "Obviously, if the Atwood, Claypool and Silver Lake buildings are not closed, we will have a need for all the funds in (the CPF)."
He also said, "We have no plans for any type of land purchase." The only improvement in the CPF, he said, was for resealing of parking lot surfaces.
Many of the jobs done by school corporation employees in the past are now contracted out because those WCS jobs have been eliminated or laid off, he said, and when they are contracted out, the jobs must be put in the CPF.
Dr. David McGuire, WCS superintendent, said, "Education in Indiana is both a legal and a political process. As we were developing these documents, we had to proceed as if - as if those schools would remain open."
Hearing officer Melissa Henson asked Thorpe, "All these expenditures - will they disappear if the schools are closed or will these expenditures remain?"
"Many of the expenditures will remain until the schools are closed," Thorpe said.
Price, however, objected to the corporation's use of the CPF for many of the included funds.
"Statutes for the CPF in no instance contemplate using the COF as a side pocket, if you will, for expenses the corporation" would rather pay through the CPF than going through the regular budget process, Price said.
"The testimony given here by Mr. Thorpe helps prove our case that the CPF is being used incorrectly."
The hearing officers will submit their report to the DLGF, Henson said, and the commissioner will make a determination after all evidence is considered.
Approximately 30 people attended the hearing, which lasted about an hour.
