Sean C. Morgan
School District 55 Supt. Larry Horton will present findings from his initial study of whether to close Holley or Crawfordsville schools while seeking input from the community in two meetings and from a survey over the next month.
He showed his presentation, a letter and a survey to the School Board Monday night. The board voted that he move forward with the presentations.
Meetings will be held at Holley on Dec. 2, Crawfordsville on a date to be determined and from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Feb. 14 when the board is set to decide whether to close a school or do nothing.
A letter explaining the district’s policy and a survey will be sent home to every School District parent. Completed surveys are due on Dec. 15.
“It’s not just Holley and Crawfordsville,” Horton said. “It’s the whole district that’s being impacted.”
The study stems from a policy that triggers consideration of a closure when the enrollment at either school is less than 60 or if the combined enrollment of both schools is less than 150. The two schools have 143 students between them this year.
Since completing its budget last spring, the district has cut $1.1 million based on declining state revenue projections. Next year, the district’s Public Employee Retirement System payments are projected to increase by $400,000.
“The reality of it is our budget crisis is getting worse, not better,” Horton said. “It’s frightening to me to guess where we’re going to get that money.”
The district has already reduced staff, school days and more, he said. “We’re running out of areas to reduce.”
Closing a school would save about $157,000, Horton said. The district could lose up to 26 students to the Charter School if parents decided to move their children after a closure. That would cost the district about $125,000.
Among Horton’s findings is continued decreases in enrollment, with combined enrollment decreasing to 112 by 2013, with 59 at Crawfordsville and 53 at Holley. The figures are based on smaller numbers of children entering the schools and projected to enter the schools. This year’s kindergarten from the Holley and Crawfordsville areas include eight students.
Combining the schools would allow the schools to reduce the number of grade-blended classrooms, Horton said, and classes would include more than 20 students, with the largest being 29 if it were in place this year.
The number of births in Linn County has been decreasing, Horton said. In 2006, Linn County had 1,560 births. In 2009, the county had 934 births.
Horton did a complete review of attendance boundaries, Horton said.
Changing the boundaries to keep both schools open does not save money and is not efficient use of district resources, he said. Transportation costs would increase if boundaries were changed to keep the rural schools open.
“The intent is to decrease costs, not increase them,” Horton said.
Merging the schools would create a relatively small school that still retained the family atmosphere of the rural schools, Horton said.
Board members Chanz Keeney, Holley, and David VanDerlip, Crawfordsville, remained skeptical of the idea of closing one of the schools. VanDerlip suggested that cuts need to come from across the district, spreading the pain around.
While the district might close a school, Keeney reminded the board that every percentage point given in raises as negotiations begin again this year represents about $100,000, a huge chunk of money the district will need to deal with.
This year, “we gave out raises by contractual agreement, and we’re closing a school,” Keeney said. “Does the community know that?”
Salaries are the single largest expenditure in the district, he said.
He also pointed out that he collected 400 signatures in a week opposing closing either of the schools.
“There has been a lot of cost savings at some of the inner schools,” said John Fassler, Foster board member. Foster lost a teacher, and its principle’s time was reduced this year. “You’re going to start making a divide here. You’re going to have this whole community fractured.”
“You’re making mountains out of molehills when you talk about closing schools,” said Billie Weber, board member, noting the closure of many schools in the Sweet Home area, such as Pleasant Valley, Sunnyside, Cascadia and Liberty, over the years. “A lot of schools have been closed. It hasn’t hurt anybody.”
If people support Holley and Crawfordsville schools, said Jenny Daniels, Liberty board member, then they must also support the School District as a whole.
“You can’t get blood from a turnip,” Daniels said.