MCS operates more schools than its peers
MUNCIE, Ind. — Muncie Community Schools is operating more schools than eight out of nine other districts of comparable size, a review by The Star Press found.
Faced with the threat of a state takeover of MCS, the Muncie school board voted in an emergency session last week to close three of its 14 schools. That would bring the corporation more in line with districts its size.
Republican state lawmakers have targeted financially unstable MCS for failing to "right size" or align the number of its schools with enrollment declines — a crisis that legislators noticed "didn't happen overnight."
REWIND: What do state lawmakers have to say about Muncie schools?
Closing three schools would leave Muncie with more schools than Concord, Plainfield, Duneland and Marion; the same number of schools as Huntington, and fewer schools than Anderson, Michigan City, Kokomo and Valparaiso.
The number of schools operated by each of those nine districts ranges from seven to 14 (see our full comparison at bottom). Like Muncie, four of the nine districts have at least two middle schools — Michigan City, Huntington, Kokomo, and Valparaiso. Muncie and Kokomo both operate the most schools: 14. All of the comparison schools operate only one high school, Muncie kept two high schools until 2014-15.
After MCS closes Mitchell, Storer and Sutton elementary schools, it will be left with the "right number of schools," at least for the time being, Superintendent Steve Baule told The Star Press. The school board did not accept his recommendation to also close Northside Middle School.
"The board felt that the best thing for the community to do with regard to whether or not to continue a two-middle-school solution was to allow the community to vote on the proposal (in a referendum)," Baule said. "If the community wishes to continue a two-middle-school solution, there will be an additional cost. If the community votes for a single-middle-school solution, that would be implemented in 2018-2019."
Muncie has one more school than most of its peers because of the Youth Opportunity Center for troubled students. Anderson operates a COMPASS school whose students receive academic, behavioral and social support from life coaches, social workers, teachers and administrators to help its students reintegrate into their home school. And Kokomo operates a McKinley Alternative School for students who "have experienced limited academic success."
Consultants who recently conducted an "administration organizational review" of MCS compared the district to nine school corporations of similar enrollment — five with the next-lowest enrollment to Muncie and four with the next-highest enrollment to Muncie. The Star Press used those same nine corporations for a comparison of the number of schools at each.
The number of schools operated by 10 corporations (in descending order):
• Muncie Community Schools — Enrollment: 5,690. Total schools: 14 (nine elementaries, two middle schools, one high school, one career center, and a Youth Opportunity School for troubled students).
• Kokomo School Corp. — Enrollment: 6,172. Total schools: 14 (seven elementaries, three middle schools, one high school, one alternative school for students struggling academically, one career center, and one early learning center).
• Michigan City Area Schools — Enrollment: 5,601. Total schools: 12 (eight elementaries, two middle schools, one high school, one career center).
• Anderson Community Schools — Enrollment: 7,088. Total schools: 12 (six elementaries, one middle school, one high school, one career center, one pre-school, one kindergarten school, and one COMPASS school for struggling students to receive academic, behavioral and social support).
• Valparaiso Community Schools — Enrollment: 6,261. Total schools: 12 (eight elementaries, two middle schools, one high school, one career/technical school).
• Huntington County Community Schools — Enrollment: 5,265. Total schools: 11 (seven elementaries, two middle schools, one high school, one pre-school).
• Duneland School Corp.(Chesterton) — Enrollment: 5,842. Total schools: 9 (five elementaries, two intermediate schools, one middle school, one high school).
• Marion Community Schools — Enrollment: 3,898. Total schools: 8 (four elementaries, one intermediate school, one junior high school, one high school, one pre-school).
• Concord Community Schools (Elkhart) — Enrollment: 5,394. Total schools: 7 (four elementaries, one intermediate school, one junior high school, one high school).
• Plainfield Community Schools — Enrollment: 5,466. Total schools: 7 (four elementaries, one pre-school, one middle school, one high school.
Contact Seth Slabaugh at (765) 213-5834.