The Gary Community School Corp. is poised to have approximately $27 million available to fund school building repairs and demolition over the next 4½ years.
The Indiana House voted 89-2 Tuesday to approve Senate Bill 408 (http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2020/bills/senate/408), authorizing the Indiana Distressed Unit Appeal Board to temporarily suspend the school district's approximately $500,000 in monthly debt repayments to the state's Common School Fund, without also having to cut the district's debt service property tax levy.
Under the plan, DUAB only can spend the repurposed debt payments on school repairs or demolition. DUAB has operated the financially impaired Gary Community School Corp. on behalf of the state since Aug. 1, 2017.
A requirement that no more than 20% of the money go toward demolition was deleted from the proposal by the House Monday, at the request of state Rep. Earl Harris Jr., D-East Chicago, who said it didn't make sense to tie DUAB's hands when abandoned schools are crime epicenters in some Gary neighborhoods.
"This means a lot, not only to the Gary school system and the city of Gary, but for the whole Region," Harris said.
"Empty, partially broken down buildings are a major problem in the Region, and this (bill) works to improve the safety of those communities."
State Rep. Tim Brown, R-Crawfordsville, the sponsor, said the Gary school district, and its families, also stand to benefit from repairing school buildings still in use.
"I think if we can get the schools built back up, we'll have more students return and that will help their finances," Brown said.
The legislation now must be approved by the Senate, or a compromise between both chambers worked out in a House-Senate conference committee, to advance to Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb to be signed into law.
Originally, Senate Bill 416 (http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2020/bills/senate/416), sponsored by state Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Gary, would have made up to $43.5 million available for Gary school repairs and demolition over 10 years, with Democratic Gary Mayor Jerome Prince having a say in DUAB's building repair and demolition decisions.
That Senate-approved measure also would have authorized the district to enter into a public-private partnership to finance and construct new middle and high school buildings at a central campus site.
Earlier this year, the Prince administration cited the school district under Indiana's Unsafe Building Law. It identified 10 abandoned schools as blighted and ordered their prompt demolition.
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