[JHeath]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...;ArticleID=9284

A $1.4M Shortfall For MCAS?

Deborah Sederberg
The News-Dispatch

Tuesday, January 29, 2008


MICHIGAN CITY - Indiana's circuit breaker law, which seeks to reduce property taxes, could leave students in Indiana's neediest school corporations in the dark.

If legislation capping property taxes moves ahead, it could cost Michigan City Area Schools $1.4 million in 2009. Michael Harding, MCAS superintendent, believes local students deserve better.

That's why Harding joined State Sen. Jim Arnold, D-La Porte, State Sen. John Broden, D-South Bend, and other state senators from Lake, St. Joseph and La Porte counties and other school administrators on Monday for a news conference in Indianapolis.

Broden said Monday morning he would introduce an amendment to Senate Bill 12 "that would protect schools from dramatic funding cuts possible under proposed property tax circuit breakers."

"My colleague, Senator Broden, proposed an amendment today that would have assured schools that their funding would be covered through the state general fund," Arnold said Tuesday afternoon. In an agreement with other legislators, Broden agreed to withdraw the matter, leaving it to be handled under House Bill 1001.

"I am particularly disturbed about the shortfall of funding for the Michigan City school system," Arnold said. "I will be paying close attention and will play a visible part in making sure that the funding is replaced."

The circuit breaker, which became law in 2006, is complicated legislation, but essentially, it is a property tax cap. According to the law, taxes on a homeowner's primary residence could never exceed 1 percent of the home's assessed value. Rental property would be taxed at a maximum 2 percent rate and agricultural land at no more than 3 percent.

The cap is strictly a percentage. Tax bills could rise as assessed valuation rises.

The cap would take $600 million from local government and schools, it is estimated.

While no hard numbers have been assigned to the losses to individual school districts, Vince Taylor, business manager for the La Porte Community Schools, said accounting firms have been busy crunching the cuts with the assessed valuations and coming up with their best predictions.

Harding said urban schools will be hit especially hard. For now, it looks as if MCAS could lose about $1.4 million in 2009 and more in 2010. Hammond schools could lose $13 million in 2009, Indianapolis schools $14 million, South Bend $6.84 million and Gary Schools $8.2 million. "The 10 school districts with the highest poverty rates (and that includes Michigan City) stand to lose 10 times more than the 10 school districts with the least poverty," he said.

As the state raises standards for academic achievement, it reduces resources, Harding added. "Education needs to be looked at as an investment rather than a liability."

If the circuit breaker goes ahead unchecked, programs and classrooms will be darkened.

"We've got to do better," Harding said.

According to the numbers from the accounting firms, Taylor said La Porte "won't be too badly hit." The estimate is that La Porte will lose about $100,000 in 2009.

Both Taylor and Theo Boone, business manager for MCAS, say legislators are still trying to make some changes. One is that the state would take over responsibility for every school district's general fund and transportation fund.

"The state would be 100 percent responsible for those funds," Boone said. The state already pays about 85 percent of those funds.

The idea is to take the burden completely off the shoulders of property owners. The state then would pay its share from income tax and sales tax and, Boone said, some legislators are considering raising sales tax.

"It's really all up in the air," Boone said. "We have to wait to see how they handle it in Indianapolis."



Contact Deborah Sederberg at dsederberg@ thenewsdispatch.com.

[Southsider2k12]

Ironic that this comes up the WEEK AFTER the administration gets their pay raises...

[JHeath]

"We've got to do better," Harding said.

We were thinking the same thing...

[Southsider2k12]

We were thinking the same thing...

Too bad the school board wasn't thinking that...

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=37281.11

Dr Jane M Kelly

A $1.4M Shortfall For MCAS?
Please explain why I should believe Mr. Harding’s high ground on this issue when he petitioned and is granted a pay raise for himself and other administrators by the MCAS School Board. Please help me understand why the MCAS Board was not on top of the projected State budget, before granting administrative raises, or were they and they wanted to get his request granted before the news about the projected budget was released. It appears that nobody cared about the students or taxpayers when they were granting raises. For a school superintendent to claim that he cares so much about the students, I ask that he voluntary roll back pay for himself and other administrators. I am sure the School Board and taxpayers would agree in view of the projected loss of about $1.4 million dollars in 2009 and 2010, a loss that is most devastating to this community. In doing so, these Administrators would have an opportunity to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. As a community, let us see what they choose to do.

[JHeath]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=37281.11

Nicely written, Dr. Kelly! SHe's right...if they truly care, they'd put their money where their mouths are.

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=49204.29

Tax Reform Must Address School Funding

Editorial

Now that property taxes have the full attention of the Indiana General Assembly, it's not too early to wonder what crisis will grab the Legislature's attention next.

If the fix being considered for property taxes becomes reality, then the next crisis will be school funding.

By capping taxes at 1 percent for residential property, 2 percent for rental property and 3 percent for agricultural property, the amount of money going into the budgets of local taxing units is going to decrease dramatically. In the case of Michigan City Area Schools, the decline could be $1.4 million in 2009.

It's a concern raised by State Sen. Jim Arnold, D-La Porte, who is working with a coalition of other state legislators to introduce legislation that would help schools cover their anticipated budget shortfalls.

Michigan City is not alone. It would affect all schools in the state, but some would be hurt much worse than others. For instance, Hammond schools could lose $13 million, Indianapolis schools could lose $14 million, Gary Schools $8.2 million and South Bend schools $6.8 million.

Superintendent Michael Harding is so concerned about the potential loss that he traveled to Indianapolis Monday to appear with Arnold and other legislators at a news conference announcing the need for legislation to cover the schools' shortfall.

"Education needs to be looked at as an investment rather than a liability," said Harding. "We've go to do better."

He's right and there isn't a lot of time to act. If the property tax cap being considered by the General Assembly is enacted, and there is nothing included to help school districts make up the money the will lose, huge changes are inevitable. Some programs will be cut, staff will be let go. There undoubtedly will be more students in classrooms because there won't be as many teachers.

The General Assembly at this point is doing nothing more than pushing air around a flaccid balloon. For now, they're working on lowering the pressure on property taxes so the balloon won't burst there, but they're creating pressure on the other side of the balloon that could cause it to burst.

Our Opinion
The Issue: Capping property taxes will decrease revenue for local government and schools.

Our Opinion: If Michigan City Area Schools faces losing $1.4 million in revenue under the proposed tax reform bill, some provision must be added to shore up the school system's funding.

[Southsider2k12]

Couldn't have said it better myself.

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=48928.89

Harding Should Forego His Pay Raise
Regarding the story "A $1.4M Shortfall For MCAS?" [Page A1, Tuesday] please explain why I should believe Mr. Harding's high ground on this issue when he petitioned for and was granted a pay raise for himself and other administrators by the Michigan City Area Schools board.

Please help me understand why the MCAS board was not on top of the projected state budget before granting administrative raises, or were they and they wanted to get his request granted before the news about the projected budget was released? It appears that nobody cared about the students or taxpayers when they were granting raises.

For a school superintendent to claim that he cares so much about the students, I ask that he voluntarily roll back pay for himself and other administrators. I am sure the School Board and taxpayers would agree in view of the projected loss of about $1.4 million dollars in 2009 and 2010, a loss that is most devastating to this community. In doing so, these administrators would have an opportunity to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. As a community, let us see what they choose to do.

Dr. Jane M. Kelly

Pottawattamie Park