School board reviews finances

In a changing landscape, school officials will need to keep an eye on finances.

That was the message from Jay School Corporation superintendent Jeremy Gulley and business manager Shannon Current during Monday’s Jay School Board meeting.

The board also discussed a potential capital improvement project at Jay County Junior-Senior High School and approved the hiring of 2006 Jay County High School graduate Tyler Rigby as the Patriots’ next boys basketball coach (see related story).

Current noted that she is currently projecting negative cash flows of $82,675 and $136,937 this year in the education and operation funds, respectively. If those numbers hold, it would mark the first time either fund has been in the red for a year since the education fund had a negative cash flow of $77,594 in 2017.

Gulley addressed the situation in relation to funding changes that are coming following last week’s passage of Indiana Senate Bill 1, which makes a variety of tax changes. He said estimates from the state’s Legislative Services Agency show Jay Schools will miss out on $1.9 million in additional revenue that it would have received under the current funding system. He added that the bill calls for schools to no longer receive local income tax dollars beginning in 2028 and that the possibility of new local tax increment financing (TIF) districts could impact funding.

He added that schools could see further reductions in funding if state revenue continues to fall short of its projections. 

(State lawmakers are in the process of addressing a $2 billion shortfall for Indiana’s two-year budget.) He said the school corporation can’t count on the federal government to step in and assist in such a situation.

As a result, Gulley said he plans to cut three full-time teaching positions and one-part time teaching position through attrition. He said there are additional options available to the school corporation to cut costs that the board can review later this year after tax impacts become clear and enrollment numbers are set for the 2025-26 school year.

In relation to the proposed improvement project at the junior-senior high school, he pointed out that there are different “buckets” of government funding that can’t be transferred from one to another. Bonding, for instance, which would be used for the project, cannot be used to pay employees. Likewise, education fund dollars can’t be used for building projects.

Board members Ron Laux, Donna Geesaman, Marcie Vormohr, Chip Phillips, Jon Eads, Aaron Clark and Chad Towell also heard updates regarding the proposed building project.

Brian Bohlender of engineering and architecture firm Barton Coe Vilamma provided various options for the tennis courts, including renovating in place, reconstructing in place or shifting the courts to a new location (slightly  south, further south along the main drive, at the north corner of the “driving range” parking lot or on the south side of the school). 

Reconstructing the courts would increase the cost but would also provide a longer expected lifespan than renovating them.

He also reported that an assessment of the current stadium grandstand by a structural engineer indicated that it could have as much as 50 years of life left if it is properly sealed and maintained. While there are cosmetic issues such as chipping paint, he said the “bones” of the structure are sound. 

(Options for the capital project have included tearing down the grandstand and relocating home fans to the opposite side of the field.) There was also some discussion about future use of the interior of the building, which has locker rooms and storage space.

Bohlender also provided options for reconstructing the current eight-lane track or adding a ninth lane. He said plans for the kitchen now include running electrical overhead instead of in the floor, which will reduce costs.

Gulley asked project committee members to be ready to meet again before making recommendations in May. (A preliminary plan presented Monday that includes electrical and mechanical improvements, updates to the band, choir and wrestling areas as well as the former TV studio, kitchen improvements and work on outdoor athletic facilities came in at $18.2 million.)

Julie Bolling of law firm Krieg Devault laid out a potential timeline for issuing bonds for such a project, with hearings to be held in May and June, followed by a formal resolution for a bond. A petition/remonstrance process would follow. 

If approved, bonds would likely be issued in late October.

In other business:

•During the Patriot Pride moment, honored the Jay County FFA soil judging team that is headed to the national competition in Oklahoma.

•Approved the following:  the retirement of Redkey Elementary School first grade teacher Jane Evans; field trips for the Jay County robotics team, PVE club students, German IV students and Junior ROTC members; a contract with Dosia Middlebrook for deaf and hard of hearing students; a contract with Ascender for speech and language pathology services; holding an auction of surplus equipment May 16 in the former bus garage at East Jay Elementary School; expenses related to the Sept. 22 tornado that damaged the junior high/library wing of the junior-senior high school; updates to the elementary student handbook; and adoption of the kindergarten through eighth grade reading textbooks from McGraw-Hill.

•Accepted the resignations of wrestling coach Eric Myers, high school social studies teacher Todd Gibson (effective at the end of the school year) and East Jay Elementary School Lifeskills instructional assistant Ty Thacker (effective April 9).

•Approved transferring $635,976.17 from the school’s State Medicaid Fund to the Education Fund and making future transfers of similar funds as advised by the State Board of Accounts.

•Accepted $3,100 in donations, including $2,000 from Indiana Farmers Insurance/Branum Brown Insurance. It will become an annual donation in exchange for stadium signs, public address announcements, on-site exhibit space and a social media campaign.

•Received proposed updates to the junior-senior high handbook.