School closures lead to problems

To the editor:

Seven hundred of the 4,000 school-age students in Jay County are not enrolled in Jay Schools.

That is the cause of the budget shortfall. No, superintendent Jeremy Gulley, the enrollment drop is not caused by a non-existent population shift. School age has been stable at 4,000 to 4,200 for the last 27 years.

The effects of school closing has resulted in a steady and continuing drop of school enrollment from 5,800 in 1975 to 3,300 now, more than 2,500 students. Closing schools has caused this flight, closing more schools will only add to it. Jay School Corporation is creating a path to its own irrelevancy as it continues to close schools and ignore the cause of the enrollment drop. 

Mr. Gulley, it is your duty to ensure these 700 are attending school.

If you are not aware of this number, compare Jay School enrollment numbers to the U.S. federal census numbers.

Do you know where the 700 are and why they are not in Jay Schools? Correct this and you will solve the Jay Schools budget problem.

The message is clear: The people of Jay County intend to have their children educated locally or they will leave Jay Schools.

Mike Bishop

Dunkirk and Madison Township