Complimentary, and critical

There were a lot of compliments Monday for local efforts to improve school finances.

The same could not be said for the state legislature.

Superintendent Jeremy Gulley presented Jay School Board, acting as the corporation’s finance committee, with a report Monday that showed its highest year-end education fund balance in more than two decades.

Gulley reviewed the fiscal goals the board had set out in 2017, noting that it had achieved all of them. One of those was to get the year-end cash balance in the education fund to 10% of annual spending by December 2020. He reported that the cash balance in the education fund (formerly the general fund) was $3.81 million — 17.6% of annual spending — at the end of 2020, the highest since 1999.

The education fund had been an ongoing challenge for the corporation. Its balance had been over $5 million in the mid-1990s before dropping to about $1.6 million in 2002. It climbed again and hovered around $3 million for about a decade before falling to just under $1.5 million at the end of 2017.

Other goals achieved, as noted by Gulley, were three consecutive years of positive cash flow, increasing the rainy day fund to more than $500,000 and consolidating schools. The biggest step in that consolidation occurred this year as seventh and eighth graders shifted to the high school building. (The final step in the current plan will come in 2021-22 when Westlawn Elementary School students will move to the former West Jay Middle School building that is currently being renovated.)

Gulley cautioned that the school corporation may have to dip into some of its reserves in the coming year as it feels the tax impact of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“In so many ways, we were fortunate … three years ago when we started down the path of getting our district’s finances in order,” he said. “We’re fortunate we were able to make the changes in time.

“We’ve essentially built a life raft that we can get in as a school district to get us through the impacts of COVID.”

Board president Phil Ford complimented Gulley on his efforts to get the corporation’s finances in order after he was hired as superintendent in October 2016.

State funding was juxtaposed with local efforts, with Gulley noting that state per-student funding has not kept up with inflation over the last decade. Showing data from Indiana’s Next Level Teacher Compensation Commission final report, he noted that Indiana has dropped from 22nd in the nation in per-student spending in 2004 to 36th in 2018 and that the state lags behind Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Illinois.

“I put those there for you to see what you have done as a board and as a community and the teachers and the employees and all of us who had to put our sweat equity into making those tough changes and then implementing them,” said Gulley. “You can take a look at all that decision making locally and then compare it to the commitment over the last 10 years of state funding, and it paints a picture. Hopefully, it will improve.”

Reacting to Indiana’s comparison nationwide and to adjacent states, Ford said the responsibility falls to the state legislature. He referenced the Republican supermajority in the Indiana General Assembly — the party has had a supermajority (enough members to conduct business even if no members of another party are present) in both houses since 2012 — and its hold on the governor’s office since 2005.

“I know that the teachers don’t like to become involved in state politics,” said Ford, who is a past president of Jay Classroom Teachers Association. “But if you don’t get involved in state politics, instead of dropping down to (36th), we’ll be down to 49th or 50th. Because right now all we get out of Indianapolis is talk.”

No other board members commented on corporation finances or state funding.

During the board’s organizational meeting earlier in the evening, Vickie Reitz (first term), Jason Phillips (first full term after filling out the remaining term of Kristi Betts) and Ford (second term) were sworn in to office. The board then unanimously elected Ford president, Ron Laux vice president and Donna Geesaman secretary.

Board members Mike Shannon, Chris Snow, Phillips, Reitz, Ford, Laux and Geesaman also made the following appointments: Coldren, Frantz and Sprunger as corporation attorneys and Amy Matthews of Church, Church, Hittle & Antrim as additional legal counsel; Shannon Current as interim treasurer and Amy Reinhart as deputy treasurer; Current and Reinhart as authorized users of the safe deposit box; and Irene Taylor and Current as representatives for small claims court.

The board appointed Geesaman (chair), Ford and Laux to its negotiations committee and Reitz as its legislative delegate. Gulley appointed Snow and Reitz to the corporation’s insurance committee.

Board members also approved conflict of interest statements for assistant superintendent for instruction Trent Paxson, Ford, Laux, Snow, Geesaman and Gulley. And they recognized outgoing member Krista Muhlenkamp for her four years of service.

Shannon noted that Jay County last week was the first in Indiana to come down to the “yellow” (moderate risk for spread of COVID-19) status after being at high or severe risk for more than a month. He thanked school administrators and Jay County Health Department for their efforts at keeping the spread of the disease in check.

In other business, the board of finance approved First Merchants Bank and First Bank of Berne as depositories.