Closing school makes sense for Jay

We can learn from the past, but we can’t change it.

We can’t go back and fix decisions that were made five and 10 years ago. There is no time machine.

All we can do now is deal with the situation as it stands at present. That situation is not a pleasant one, but we must acknowledge that it is time.

Jay School Corporation should close Pennville Elementary School.

To be clear, no one wants to close a school. Not a single Jay Schools administrator, school board member or Jay County resident wakes up in the morning, stretches and thinks, “let’s close a school today.”

Just as clear is the school corporation’s financial situation. It will have deficit spending this year, likely in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. It will mark the fifth time in the last six years that the corporation has spent more than it has brought in.

Inevitably, the cost of educating students is going to continue to go up, both in terms of salaries and benefits. So the corporation can’t just cut to balance the budget now, it must instead make changes in order to ensure financial stability in the future.

The most logical first step toward solving that overspending problem is closing Pennville, the elementary with by far the fewest students — 84 compared to Redkey as the next smallest at 165. It’s also the second-oldest building in the corporation, trailing Judge Haynes Elementary by one year.

Many have touted a proposed “Save Our School” plan as a better way forward. But an examination of that plan reveals a litany of problems:

•It assumes the ability to raise between $100,000 and $250,000 each year from the private sector to offset the costs of various programs. We believe it is far-fetched to expect that amount of money on an annual basis.

•It indicates that Jay Schools could save between $250,000 and $750,000 by reducing administrative staff. The corporation already cut one administrative position late last year, saving about $115,000. Could a few more be cut or consolidated? Perhaps. But there is not three quarters of a million dollars in savings, no matter how you look at it.

•It requires, based on a 2015 report, spending $2.5 to $3 million to add classrooms at General Shanks Elementary in order to accommodate students from Judge Haynes Elementary, which would close. Such a project would require the corporation to take on additional long-term debt, which doesn’t seem to make sense in this financial climate.

Many of the arguments in favor of keeping Pennville Elementary open have been full of emotion and sentimentality. That’s understandable.

But it also should be noted that quality of education has little to do with bricks and mortar. Instead, it has to do with teachers and administrators. Those who were doing a good job at Pennville Elementary can continue to do so at Westlawn, Redkey, Bloomfield or any of the three Portland elementary schools. And students can continue to get a quality education in those buildings.

We feel for the students who attend Pennville Elementary. We feel for the teachers who may lose jobs. We feel for the community.

But we look at the current numbers — both Jay School Corporation’s finances and Pennville Elementary’s enrollment — and come to the conclusion that this is the logical first step toward financial health. And we understand it won’t be the last.

We hope in the future that we can learn from our current situation and the steps that were taken, or not taken, that have put us here. Let’s learn our lesson and in the future confront such problems head on rather than closing our eyes and hoping they’ll go away.

They never do. — R.C.