Argos Community School Corporation district voters are asked Tuesday to approve a referendum to shore up the corporation’s general fund.
Over a four-year period, due to state funding formulas and fluctuating enrollment, the Argos Schools’ general fund has declined by 11 percent.
The state of Indiana provides all general fund revenue for school corporations. The amount a school gets is based on a state formula.
School general funds are used to pay salaries and benefits, purchase supplies, pay for insurance and more.
State budget cuts, a formula that doesn’t take into account the challenges small rural school corporations face and the fact school choice and vouchers have changed the playing field all factor into Argos’ situation, said Superintendent Michelle Reese.
The referendum is for a proposed revenue bond of $1.04-$1.35 million.
If the referendum passes, the tax rate would increase 61 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.
For a person owning a $100,000 home, the tax increase would be $16.65 a month or $199.78 a year, according to financial consultant Curt Pletcher, of Umbaugh.
The increase would raise roughly $1 million a year, and it would last seven years.
The current Argos schools’ property tax rate is 97.42 cents if $100 were of assessed valuation. Those revenues pay specifically for capital projects, debt service, teacher pensions, transportation and new buses.
Argos, Reese said, receives less per student, $5,634 per year, than most of its neighboring school districts because of the state’s funding formula. Culver receives $5,980, Knox, $6,037 and North Judson, $5,908.
Reese said Wednesday she’s been told the picture she paints doesn’t have a positive spin.
She said that’s true. Either more revenue is needed, or there will have to be cuts, she said.
To counter a revenue slide that started four years ago, according to a PowerPoint presentation from the public meetings, the school corporation has already taken cost-cutting measures. It has closed the superintendent’s office, and Reese has a dual role, also serving as elementary principal. Class sizes have been increased, the Title I teacher has been replaced with aides and some vocational and special education services are now shared with Triton, as is the e-learning coach necessary for 1:1 computing.
If the referendum passes, according to Reese’s presentation, the money will be used to hire a new math teacher to meet new state-mandated high school math requirements, hire a full-time Title I teacher, hire two Project Lead the Way teachers, hire a full-time e-learning coach, hire an elementary school principal and increase vocational staff and courses.
Shoring up the budget, Reese’s report says, is necessary to attract quality educators. As many as 36 percent of Argos’ teachers are eligible to retire in the next 10 years, and 15 of them are now age 54 or older.
It also will allow Argos to meet the changing employment needs in the STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Math – and vocational fields.
Moving some personnel expenses out of the school corporation’s capital projects fund will allow the corporation to address some needed facility work: roofs that have reached life expectancy, a parking lot in poor condition and boilers that need work, among other things.