Union schools running out of money, students

• Union is the fourth smallest school district in the state.
• There are 340 students in the district %u2014 177 at the elementary and 163 at the high school.

MODOC – The question was projected on the large screen.

"Is it in the best educational interest of our students to consolidate Union with another school?"

That question was presented by Union School Board President Todd Holaday at the beginning of a special board meeting Monday night.

The answers, coming from a standing-room-only crowd in the Union High School cafeteria, were mixed, some saying "yes," the time has come, and others saying "no," keep the school district alive as long as possible.

Before public comments, Holaday offered some comments about the district's financial and enrollment woes. The four other board members – Garth Jenkins, Christa Ellis, Scott Houser and Alan McCormick – and some administrators were seated at a table with him at the front of the room.

"The majority of the board believes that now is the best time to do this," Holaday said.

The reasons, he noted were: declines in enrollment will continue; academic concerns cannot financially be addressed; additional expense cuts are not appropriate; the general fund cash balance is rapidly declining; the district's outstanding debt is a little lower than the cash balance; state support will soon drop about $200,000 more, and "waiting will decrease our bargaining position."

He said the district is running out of time and money.

"It would take 106 kids coming into the school system just to break even," he said, adding that would be "just to try to stay where we are at."

Union — which consists of a middle school and a junior/senior high school — is the fourth smallest school district in the state. There are 340 students in the district — 177 at the elementary and 163 at the high school.

Holaday said the district has tried its best to keep the itself afloat. The district has cut about $450,000 in expenses in the past three years. He said they have tried to get other kids to come to the district.

"How do we compete? We are at a disadvantage," he said.

He cited travel as one of the roadblocks. He said there were academic issues as well. Other schools offer more than Union can at an academic and athletic level, he noted.

Later, during public comments, a woman noted that the district had money in the transportation fund, and she suggested that they send a bus to Muncie to try to recruit more kids. Holaday said not all taxpayers in the area — who foot the bill for that fund — would feel "warm and fuzzy" about that.

One community member asked about splitting students between different schools. Holaday said there is an option to dissolve the corporation and send students different directions, but that the board will "most likely be looking at going one direction with one school."

Shayla Parrish, a Union senior, couldn't hold back tears when she spoke about her involvement in every club here and the vocational program.

After the meeting, she said the district still offers so many "great things," but added that the online classes at the high school level are "not good."

One man said he would love for the school to stay open, but that you "cannot continue to provide an education if you don't have the students or the funding."

He said the lack of math offerings opened his eyes to the dire situation here.

One woman wanted to know which districts would be willing to consolidate with Union. Holaday said all of the neighboring schools districts were interested. She added that her experience with consolidation was bad and added that Union should not merge with Randolph Southern because she heard they were "broke."

Another Union student asked how soon the district's money would run out. "At the current rate we would be without money within two to three years," Holaday said.

A former board member said that he hated to admit it, but "the time has come" to consolidate because of the lack of academic offerings available to kids here.

Several speakers said the district should have been more forthcoming with information about the possibility of consolidation.

Current board member Alan McCormick said discussions about the future of the district have been going on for eight years and said he doesn't like that people think "we are hiding something." McCormick said years ago he said during a meeting that when the district cannot offer high school curriculum it's "time to throw in the towel."

A parent of two Union grads said the board needs to give parents and families the time to discuss, to investigate, what they will do next, saying it should be "at least a year."

Board member Christa Ellis said, based on her knowledge of the situation, she was able to tell her daughter that this year is probably her child's last chance to take certain courses here, have certain teachers. She agreed that other parents should have had the same opportunity.

One woman asked the board to "look for schools that are going to match best with our kids."

Heated moments came when Christie Ogden, who is running for school board, suggested that the board has held several meetings behind closed doors that should have been open to the public. People in the audience shouted out that it was "against the law."

Holaday declined to address Ogden's accusations.

At the end of the meeting, board member Scott Houser reiterated that the board has done everything it could up to this point to save the school.

He said he and others put things in place to run the school "pretty lean." He said he ran a district "forecast" in 2009 to predict "when we would go out of business." That date was the 2015-16 school year.

"We have been talking about those numbers since then," he said.

So what's next?

Holaday said after the meeting that the board now needs to look at all of the information they have collected and figure out which school district might be the best fit for Union if they decide to consolidate. He said that discussion needs to happen at the next regular board meeting.

That doesn't leave much time. That meeting is next Monday. Same time, same place.

Contact reporter Michelle Kinsey at 213-5822 and follow her @MKinseyTSP.