Enrollment is up

Enrollment is up.

Superintendent Jeremy Gulley reported to Jay School Board on Monday that enrollment in Jay School Corporation has increased for the 2025-26 school year.

The board also passed the 2026 budget and reviewed state test scores.

Gulley told the board that the school corporation’s enrollment is 2,898, which is up by 77 students over 2024-25. (He noted that the official “count day” that affects state per-student funding is Oct. 1.)

“I thought that was a piece of good news,” he said. “Unusual.”

The only other times enrollment has gone up in the past dozen years were in 2019-20 and 2023-24. In those cases, the increases amounted to 10 students and three students, respectively.

Gulley attributed the increase to the implementation of the Jay Virtual Academy pilot program this year. There are currently 53 students enrolled in the virtual academy, which is for junior high and high school students. Of that total, 28 are students who were already enrolled in Jay Schools. The other 25 are either new students (eight) or students who are returning to the corporation (17).

“I think it’s a good thing,” said Gulley. “We’ll learn a lot in the pilot. … We’re just trying to take good care of the young people that are in our county …”

Board members Ron Laux, Donna Geesaman, Marcie Vormohr, Chip Phillips, Aaron Clark, Chad Towell and Jon Eads also approved the 2026 budget at $42.65 million with no additional discussion. It is up 2.8% from 2025.

The budget includes $23.9 million in the education fund, $11.64 million in the operations fund, $7 million in the debt service fund and $20,000 in the rainy day fund.

Also approved Monday were the capital projects plan, which includes $458,000 in roof replacement projects in 2026, $330,000 in metal siding work in 2027 and $415,000 in roof replacement work in 2028, and the bus replacement plan, which calls for four new buses in each of the next four years.

Towell asked about the process of seeking bids for buses. Business manager Shannon Current noted that Kerlin Bus Sales & Leasing has a procurement process for the vehicles.

Assistant superintendent Trent Paxson reviewed IREAD (a reading proficiency test for third graders) and ILEARN (a math and English test given at the elementary and junior high levels) scores from the 2024-25 school year with the board. 

For Jay Schools, 88.3% of third graders passed the IREAD test, down slightly from 88.8% the previous year but still above the state average of 86.5%.

For ILEARN, Jay School Corporation was slightly above the state passage rate for math (42.9% compared to 42.1%) but below the state average fo English (37.2% compared to 40.6%).

Paxson said he’s pleased to see the IREAD numbers continuing to outpace the state but acknowledged the need to see higher scores on the ILEARN test.

Geesaman, a retired elementary school teacher, said she feels the school corporation’s adoption of the science of reading will yield positive results. Paxson agreed, noting that the corporation employs two reading coaches.

Regarding students who do not pass the IREAD test, Geesaman asked about continued interventions at the junior high and high school levels.

Gulley noted an Indiana Department of Education release from last week indicating the department will review vendors specializing in reading interventions for sixth through eighth grade students. Schools would have the option to opt-in to partner with such vendors. The document says priorities will be evidence-based programs that align with the science of reading and are listed in the National Center for Intensive Intervention or the What Works Clearinghouse.

“I’m strongly interested in opting in,” said Gulley.

In other business, the board:

•During the Patriot Pride moment, honored East Jay Elementary School fifth graders who took part in the Care & Share program in partnership with The Portland Foundation. The students worked to raise money through a pie-in-the-face fundraiser, bringing in $762. The foundation also provided $100 to each of the six classes. Together, the students donated $1,362 to Jay County Cancer Society.

•Approved the following: the hiring of three instructional assistants and a second-shift custodian; leaves of absence for Redkey Elementary School speech/language pathologist Allie Homan and third grade teacher Sadie Schulze; extracurricular assignments including Tom Leonhard as assistant boys wrestling coach and Kelly Strausburg as assistant swim coach; contracts with Anointed Hands for sign language interpreter to the deaf and hard of hearing and Ball State University for a psychologist intern; a facility lease agreement with Jay Community Center; and updates to policies covering topics including dress code, curriculum development and safety standards.

•Accepted a Title II grant of $163,401.49 and a Title IV grant of $77,005.11.

•Accepted donations of $1,000 from Patriot Fitness for the junior-senior high show choirs and from DNA Family Farms for the Patriot soccer program. Also accepted a donation of 25 teacher support boxes from Kids in Need Foundation.