Lawmakers acting like school board

Years ago, a fellow in this Indiana House district ran for office because he was unhappy about some decisions his local school board had made.
It was back during the administration of Gov. Bob Orr, and the candidate’s local school board hadn’t taken advantage of some funding incentives aimed at elementary education.
Clearly, at the time, he was running for the wrong office. He should have been running for school board.
Today, that’s not so clear at all.
Somewhere along the line, the Indiana General Assembly decided it is the true school board. It wasn’t the local board, folks who paid local property taxes and had their kids in the local classrooms.
Instead, it was the folks at the Statehouse.
They — they decided — knew best.
And once they got their hands on the steering wheel, they haven’t let go.
When it comes to money, lawmakers in Indy make the decisions, even when those decisions are made in a vacuum without regard to the consequences.
Take the latest bit of micro-managing.
The state has traditionally set specific dates for school corporations to take attendance, and funding was tied to total enrollment. But there was always a bit of a time lag. School corporations tend to operate on an 18-month calendar, one that combines the school year with the calendar year.
As of this year, that time lag disappears.
If a school corporation sees a decline in enrollment, as many have in recent years, the impact comes just a couple of months after the benchmark attendance is taken.
Since school boards — the real ones, not the one at the Statehouse — don’t really know what their exact enrollment is going to be until the kids are in the classroom, this latest change creates a real management headache.
On top of that, the state has now set a second date for official enrollment attendance, this one in February. So if a school corporation has drop-outs or early graduates, the state will send less money along.
It makes sense — if you are a legislator — because it saves the state money. But if you are dealing with the realities and practicalities of managing a school corporation, it has the potential to be an enormous headache.
Since state dollars now make up nearly all of a school corporation’s general fund, a drop in state support because of enrollment decline is a management nightmare.
Do schools have to shift to a certain number of half-year teacher contracts to get the flexibility needed to respond to that nightmare? That remains to be seen.
But it could happen.
What’s certain at this point is local folks will be the ones who have to clean up the mess because the Indiana General Assembly thinks it is really Indiana’s School Board. — J.R.[[In-content Ad]]