March 5, 2016 at 5:13 a.m.
Student-centered
Student-centered
When it comes to the first half of the budget equation — income — students are the key.
Schools in Indiana for decades relied on local property taxes for most of their general fund revenue.
That began to change in the late 1970s, when instead of 60 percent of the general fund coming from property taxes and 40 percent from the state, those funding levels were reversed, with the state picking up 60 percent and only 40 percent of the general fund coming from property taxes.
The funding situation changed even more dramatically in 2009, and now none of Jay School Corporation’s general fund revenue comes from property taxes.
Responsibility for the general fund has been shifted to the state, and the amount of money available is based on enrollment. Corporations receive a specified amount — about $7,000 — per student based on the school funding formula.
Those changes have resulted in fluctuating financial support for Jay Schools. General fund revenues peaked at $25.1 million in 2009, the last year in which it had a significant year-end budget surplus ($196,141). The corporation saw a drop of more than $1.1 million in general fund revenue to $23.9 million in 2010.
State support has reached at least $24.6 million each year since 2011, but it remains a moving target. It was $25.4 million in 2014 before dropping to $24.7 million in 2015, and now is subject to change twice a year. Enrollment counts are taken in September and February, and the state basic grant is adjusted accordingly.
What’s the trend?
Jay County’s overall enrollment trend has been downward.
The corporation had more than 3,650 students at the beginning of the 2010 school year before the consistent decline began. In September 2011, that number had dropped to 3,621.
By far the most drastic decline came the next year, as enrollment for the 2012-13 school year plummeted by 138 students. The decline has been more gradual since then — there was even a slight increase of three students between September 2013 and 2014 — but it has continued.
Enrollment as of the beginning of the current school year was at 3,452, representing a drop of 5 percent over a five-year period.
“In general, we’ve had some enrollment declines,” said Jay Schools superintendent Tim Long. “As we look at our class sizes, even though they’re kind of stabilizing, it appears, at around that 250 to 260 mark, the reality of it is we’ve probably seen some of our bigger classes go through the high school level and out.”
Jay Schools administrators are projecting another drop in enrollment next year following the graduation of what is currently the largest class in the corporation.
The Jay County High School class of 2016 has 300 students, while the incoming kindergarten classes over the last eight years have ranged between 241 and 268 (an average of 253).
Based on those numbers, an enrollment drop of at least 30 students is expected.
Where are students?
Of the total enrollment in Jay Schools, about 32 percent of the students are housed at Jay County High School. East Jay Middle School is the second largest in the corporation at 559 students, while West Jay Middle School comes in at about half that size — 239 students.
At the elementary school level, the enrollment numbers vary widely.
General Shanks Elementary is the largest in the corporation, with at least 50 students at each grade level for a total of 320. Pennville Elementary is by far the smallest at 76 total students, including a fourth grade class of just eight.
The remaining schools rank somewhere in between, with East Elementary as the second largest (266 students) followed by Bloomfield (240), Westlawn (238), Judge Haynes (217) and Redkey (157).
Long noted that when he became superintendent about a decade ago, WJMS was near 300 students, Redkey was close to 250 students and Pennville was at more than 100.
Because of its low enrollment, the closing Pennville has been a topic for several years. Other plans presented to the board in September included shifting all eighth graders to JCHS, creating a single sixth and seventh grade middle school at East Jay, closing the Westlawn building and moving those students to West Jay and closing Judge Haynes.
What if?
As the possible closure of schools has been discussed, some in the community have brought up ideas for possible solutions and asked questions about potential consequences.
One of the ideas that has been mentioned at more than one school board meeting is the possibility of simply redrawing the school district borders to funnel more students to Pennville.
Administrators point out that Jay School Corporation has an open enrollment policy, meaning parents can choose their child’s elementary school regardless of the borders. This year, more than 200 students are attending an elementary school other than the one in which they were initially assigned. East saw the largest outflow of students (63), while Bloomfield saw the largest influx (45).
It’s also likely that borders would have to be moved drastically to significantly increase the number of students assigned to Pennville, because there is no large population base nearby.
“If you kept that (open enrollment) policy and you still allowed people the freedom of movement, it’s not going to change anything if you do change the border,” said Long, while noting that occasionally borders have been shifted by a mile to help balance class sizes.
Some have also wondered about the impact of closing buildings in a system in which dollars follow the students, considering the possibility that parents might choose to send their children to a neighboring school in another corporation such as Southern Wells, Delaware Community (Albany) or Monroe Central. Blackford County School Corporation experienced such losses when it closed its junior high in Montpelier as students migrated to Southern Wells.
“That’s always possible,” said Long. “But when it comes to academics and how our schools perform, quite frankly we do better than the surrounding districts. Jay County has always been a pretty homogeneous county. If anything, we bring students out of some of those other districts. We don’t lose students to them, too much.”
Monday’s story will take a deeper look at trends in employment levels and general fund spending in Jay School Corporation.
Schools in Indiana for decades relied on local property taxes for most of their general fund revenue.
That began to change in the late 1970s, when instead of 60 percent of the general fund coming from property taxes and 40 percent from the state, those funding levels were reversed, with the state picking up 60 percent and only 40 percent of the general fund coming from property taxes.
The funding situation changed even more dramatically in 2009, and now none of Jay School Corporation’s general fund revenue comes from property taxes.
Responsibility for the general fund has been shifted to the state, and the amount of money available is based on enrollment. Corporations receive a specified amount — about $7,000 — per student based on the school funding formula.
Those changes have resulted in fluctuating financial support for Jay Schools. General fund revenues peaked at $25.1 million in 2009, the last year in which it had a significant year-end budget surplus ($196,141). The corporation saw a drop of more than $1.1 million in general fund revenue to $23.9 million in 2010.
State support has reached at least $24.6 million each year since 2011, but it remains a moving target. It was $25.4 million in 2014 before dropping to $24.7 million in 2015, and now is subject to change twice a year. Enrollment counts are taken in September and February, and the state basic grant is adjusted accordingly.
What’s the trend?
Jay County’s overall enrollment trend has been downward.
The corporation had more than 3,650 students at the beginning of the 2010 school year before the consistent decline began. In September 2011, that number had dropped to 3,621.
By far the most drastic decline came the next year, as enrollment for the 2012-13 school year plummeted by 138 students. The decline has been more gradual since then — there was even a slight increase of three students between September 2013 and 2014 — but it has continued.
Enrollment as of the beginning of the current school year was at 3,452, representing a drop of 5 percent over a five-year period.
“In general, we’ve had some enrollment declines,” said Jay Schools superintendent Tim Long. “As we look at our class sizes, even though they’re kind of stabilizing, it appears, at around that 250 to 260 mark, the reality of it is we’ve probably seen some of our bigger classes go through the high school level and out.”
Jay Schools administrators are projecting another drop in enrollment next year following the graduation of what is currently the largest class in the corporation.
The Jay County High School class of 2016 has 300 students, while the incoming kindergarten classes over the last eight years have ranged between 241 and 268 (an average of 253).
Based on those numbers, an enrollment drop of at least 30 students is expected.
Where are students?
Of the total enrollment in Jay Schools, about 32 percent of the students are housed at Jay County High School. East Jay Middle School is the second largest in the corporation at 559 students, while West Jay Middle School comes in at about half that size — 239 students.
At the elementary school level, the enrollment numbers vary widely.
General Shanks Elementary is the largest in the corporation, with at least 50 students at each grade level for a total of 320. Pennville Elementary is by far the smallest at 76 total students, including a fourth grade class of just eight.
The remaining schools rank somewhere in between, with East Elementary as the second largest (266 students) followed by Bloomfield (240), Westlawn (238), Judge Haynes (217) and Redkey (157).
Long noted that when he became superintendent about a decade ago, WJMS was near 300 students, Redkey was close to 250 students and Pennville was at more than 100.
Because of its low enrollment, the closing Pennville has been a topic for several years. Other plans presented to the board in September included shifting all eighth graders to JCHS, creating a single sixth and seventh grade middle school at East Jay, closing the Westlawn building and moving those students to West Jay and closing Judge Haynes.
What if?
As the possible closure of schools has been discussed, some in the community have brought up ideas for possible solutions and asked questions about potential consequences.
One of the ideas that has been mentioned at more than one school board meeting is the possibility of simply redrawing the school district borders to funnel more students to Pennville.
Administrators point out that Jay School Corporation has an open enrollment policy, meaning parents can choose their child’s elementary school regardless of the borders. This year, more than 200 students are attending an elementary school other than the one in which they were initially assigned. East saw the largest outflow of students (63), while Bloomfield saw the largest influx (45).
It’s also likely that borders would have to be moved drastically to significantly increase the number of students assigned to Pennville, because there is no large population base nearby.
“If you kept that (open enrollment) policy and you still allowed people the freedom of movement, it’s not going to change anything if you do change the border,” said Long, while noting that occasionally borders have been shifted by a mile to help balance class sizes.
Some have also wondered about the impact of closing buildings in a system in which dollars follow the students, considering the possibility that parents might choose to send their children to a neighboring school in another corporation such as Southern Wells, Delaware Community (Albany) or Monroe Central. Blackford County School Corporation experienced such losses when it closed its junior high in Montpelier as students migrated to Southern Wells.
“That’s always possible,” said Long. “But when it comes to academics and how our schools perform, quite frankly we do better than the surrounding districts. Jay County has always been a pretty homogeneous county. If anything, we bring students out of some of those other districts. We don’t lose students to them, too much.”
Monday’s story will take a deeper look at trends in employment levels and general fund spending in Jay School Corporation.
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