Commentary by Larry Lannan
The Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Corporation was thrown a life line for another school year, but some tough decisions are ahead. Just how tough those decisions will be is up to Indiana state lawmakers.
HSE’s Chief Financial Officer Mike Reuter outlined the grim news for the school board last year. He said revenues and expenses were on an unsustainable track. A budget cutting committee was formed, charged with finding ways to save money for the coming two school years. For the current (2014-2015) school year, the board approved a long list of budget trimming items.
The largest single budget cutting area was an increase in employee health insurance deductibles. Employees are now paying more out of pocket for their health care to avoid worker layoffs.
That left the 2015-2016 school year where about the same budget shortfall was forecast. The City of Fishers and Fall Creek Township stepped forward to buy land HSE Schools owned but had no need to utilize at this time. The purchased land will be used by the city and township governments for parks, fire stations and other uses. The proceeds from those sales will keep HSE Schools going one more school year.
What happens after the 2015-2016 school year is largely up to the Indiana General Assembly. If the legislature approves more funding for suburban and rural school systems around the state, that would be good news for HSE Schools. If the current system continues, or if only a modest change in the school funding formula is enacted, then HSE Schools will be faced with another funding dilemma.
Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness has joined HSE School Board members and others in the local community to fight for better state funding of our local schools. The Speaker of the Indiana House, Brian Bosma, has publicly said he wants more funding for education and a look at the equity in the current state school funding formula. The Indiana Senate will be a more difficult venue to enact changes to help school funding for systems like HSE.
Without help from the Indiana General Assembly, voters in the HSE School Corporation will be asked to augment funds for local schools through a referendum. The only question is how much the local school board will request from taxpayers.
What the state does to school funding will greatly impact how much HSE Schools will request from taxpayers in a future referendum.
