MUNCIE — It's common knowledge in Muncie that Muncie Community Schools has a big budget problem. And that the current $16 million deficit is likely not something the schools will be able to right themselves.
Now MCS administrators are making sure the state knows it, too. Superintendent Steven Baule, Chief Financial Officer Deborah Williams and Mike Reuter, who recently evaluated the district's finances, have been asking for help.
"I think sometimes we assume that everybody knows," said board president Michael Long.
In a press release sent Tuesday evening, Baule said they have reached out to the governor, superintendent of public instruction and Indiana Department of Local Government Finance. During Tuesday's board meeting, he said they met with representatives from the State Board of Accounts and Indiana Department of Education last week.
As a result, The IDOE will work with the district to see if any "unfunded obligations" can be written off. For example, MCS has put off $10 million in payments to its co-operatives.
Multiple districts get together in a co-op to offer services, like for special education. Each school pitches in, but MCS kicked its payments down the road back in 2013. Williams said MCS did make a co-op payment in 2015, but it was covering the 2013-14 school years, so the district is still behind, and that payment is considered an "unfunded obligation."