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NEWS BREAKDOWN

• Turkey Run and Rockville school districts are studying a reorganization that could result in one school district.
• Any plan would have to be approved by voters in each of the current school districts.
• No public vote on the issue expected before November 2012.

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July 27, 2011

Parke school districts look at reorganization

Turkey Run and Rockville boards have agreed to study issue

Sue Loughlin The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE — While voters will have the final say, Turkey Run and Rockville school districts are “exploring the possibility” of reorganizing into one school district, said Tom Rohr, Turkey Run superintendent.

“Both school boards have agreed to pursue the reorganization issue,” he said.

A six-member Rockville-Turkey Run reorganization committee will conduct a work session at 6:30 p.m. Monday in the Rockville Community Schools central administration office, 602 Howard Ave., Rockville. Members are developing a reorganization plan.

The committee recently was chosen and selected Roy Wrightsman as chairman. “They’re just now starting their work,” Rohr said. Other members are Alan Ader, Larry Gambaiani, Marilyn Rode, Jean Ann Craycraft and Greg Harbison.

Voters in each district would ultimately have to approve a reorganization plan by a majority vote in a general election, but not before November 2012.

If the proposal passed, the two districts would become one, with one superintendent, one administrative business office and one seven-member school board.

The reorganized school district would have a new name.

Rohr said the reorganization proposal is a follow-up to a consolidation study done a few years ago involving three Parke County school districts. Southwest Parke School Corp. is not participating in the current reorganization effort.

Rohr said that major driving factors are enrollment declines and reduced state funding.

Over the past decade, Turkey Run, which now has around 520 students, has seen its enrollment drop 31 percent. At Rockville, enrollment has dropped about 21 percent over the past decade. Last year, it had 766 students.

At the high school level, some class sizes are so small it’s difficult to offer the classes students need, he said.

Another major reason for reorganization is financial, Rohr said. “The state has really put the squeeze on small school districts,” Rohr said. “With the last funding formula, the legislature eliminated the small schools grant which for us [in Turkey Run] is $300,000.”

The district’s overall budget is about $4 million.

Reorganization “hopefully will improve overall efficiency of the [newly-created] corporation,” Rohr said.

Randall Kerkhoff, Rockville schools superintendent, said the new state funding formula “is financially starving smaller districts so they have to do something.”

The most important consideration is maintaining a high level of education and providing the services students need to be successful, he said.

The two districts already work cooperatively in some curricular areas, such as speech classes and driver’s education. Last year, students at both high schools took speech classes at the Ivy Tech learning center located in Rockville; those students earned high school and college credit.

Kerkhoff said he’s hearing comments both in favor and against reorganization. “It still is a community decision,” he said.

Reorganization will mean fewer positions and one less superintendent. The new board will decide on the superintendent — it could be Rohr, Kerkhoff or someone else. Kerkhoff said he is concerned, “but my biggest concern is what we do for kids.”

Rohr, who previously retired before becoming Turkey Run superintendent, said he is not concerned about whether he would serve as the superintendent of the new district. He said he has been “pushing” for reorganization.

Rohr said the two districts are following a new reorganization law, which is essentially the same as consolidation. The major difference is that under the new law, the reorganized district would not assume old debt. Taxpayers in each current school corporation would continue paying any debt obligation incurred by the existing corporation before reorganization.

There are many steps that must occur before a new, reorganized school district becomes reality:

• Both boards must pass a resolution saying they want to reorganize, which they have done.

• Each board chooses members to serve on a reorganization committee, which has been done.

• The committee develops a reorganization plan, which is then submitted to each school board.

• Each school board must adopt an identical plan and agree to any modifications.

• The plan, if passed, then goes to voters at the next general election, which would not occur before November 2012.

If voters approved the plan in November 2012, the newly organized school district would begin in January 2013 and new board members would take office. The board would select a superintendent.

Rohr said he has not heard any opposition to the reorganization proposal. “In years past, there has been all kinds of opposition expressed, but so far, people seem to be pretty supportive of it,” he said.

If reorganization occurs, any decision related to school facilities would be made by the newly-selected school board.

Wrightsman, who chairs the reorganization committee, said he hopes citizens in the two school districts support the reorganization plan. “I think a lot of people understand this is something that really, probably needs to happen,” he said.

With the new funding formula, it’s becoming very difficult for small school districts to keep funding levels high enough to support educational programs for students, Wrightsman said.

By initiating reorganization locally, “We can determine how it happens,” Wrightsman said. “It could get to the point where the state starts to tell you how you will do it.”

Sue Loughlin can be reached at (812) 231-4235 or sue.loughlin@tribstar.com

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