AKRON - In tough economic times, school corporations are expected to do more with less money.
Tippecanoe Valley School Corp., Caston Community Schools and Rochester Community Schools are looking into how they can merge services to save money. Thursday night, Valley hosted a collaboration study community meeting for its patrons to discuss what services could be shared with other school corporations.Superintendent Brett Boggs opened the meeting with a brief history of the collaboration study.
In May 2008, the superintendents of Rochester, Caston and Valley met regarding the possibility of applying for an Indiana Dept. of Education grant. The purpose of the grant would be to investigate ways the three school corporations might work together to better serve students while being more fiscally efficient, Boggs said.
Boggs then took the idea to the Valley School Board, and it was decided Valley would proceed with Caston and Rochester with the grant process. In June, the grant was submitted to the IDOE. Late July, notification was received that the grant was awarded.
Then in August, each school corporation formed its own merging of services oversight committee. The three school corporations' committees then gathered Sept. 9 for the first time. The 18-member group reviewed the grant and the purpose of the oversight committee, and developed a request for proposals to submit to potential vendors. The vendors would help the school corporations gather information on how and what to merge.
The request for proposals was mailed to vendors Sept. 22 after the oversight committee members reviewed it. Proposals were due Oct. 16.
On Nov. 6, the oversight committee reviewed the proposals and heard presentations from the four companies. Administrator Assistance was selected to conduct the merging of services study. Each school board approved the selection in late November.
Administrator Assistance, Boggs said, began meeting immediately with superintendents and school boards while also collecting information and conducting interviews with various interested parties in all three school corporations. Thursday's meeting, conducted by Administrator Assistance, was part of the process. Representing Administrator Assistance were Drs. Sheri Brower, Marlin B. Creasy and R. Michael O'Connor, retired superintendents.
Creasy said the charge given to Administrator Assistance was to figure out how the three school corporations can expand the opportunities given to students, how the corporations can work together, better spend resources and provide better education.
"We were told, and we accepted, that nothing was off the table for us to look at," Creasy said.
There were about 15 people in attendance at the community meeting, many representing the school corporation. Creasy opened the meeting to the patrons for their thoughts.
Kris Morehouse asked if the school corporations could share curriculum and textbooks. Brower said not only is that something these three school corporations are looking at, but other corporations in the state also are taking a look at that. Technology is another area school corporations are looking at sharing, including the purchasing of software and online material.
Valley School Board member Hal Hoffman asked if the geography of the three school corporations would be a problem. Brower said that while the original request for merging of services came from Valley, Rochester and Caston, it doesn't mean it can't expand or change.
Hoffman said the bottom line of the whole picture is to save money. He said he couldn't see a Caston student wanting to travel to Valley for a course, or vice versa.
Creasy said he could agree with that, but the school corporations could share personnel. The personnel could travel to both school corporations, or teach via distance learning, and the school corporations could share the costs.
"We are firmly convinced schools need to embrace the use of technology," Creasy said, to take students further in their education.
A school's success is not dependent on its size, Creasy said. Burris High School at Ball State University is one of the smallest and best high schools in Indiana, he said. It is a fraction the size of TVHS. However, it succeeds because it has BSU resources and makes use of distance learning and technology, Creasy said.
One patron asked if year-round school would make sense with the merging of services. Creasy said every school corporation needs some kind of downtime because of finances.
Creasy said that as of Jan. 1, the state took over all school corporations' general funds, "which means Indiana took control of that." There's also less money for the state because of the stock market and economy.
"The impact on the schools is going to be pretty tremendous," said Creasy.
Brower said the challenge will be to offer what schools are required to offer by the state, plus electives students may want to take, and all the while with less money.
"What we all know is that we can't do what we've always done," she said.
