Town hall warns of education-focused legislation, calls for support of public schools

Yahoo

05-03-2025

SOUTH BEND — With several bills in this year's General Assembly that could have sweeping impacts on Indiana's schools, some St. Joseph County residents are calling for community collaboration and support for local public school corporations.
The South Bend Alumnae Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. hosted a town hall meeting on Tuesday, March 4, offering information about three of the education-related bills introduced in the General Assembly — Senate Bill 1, Senate Bill 518 and House Bill 1136.
Presenters included Portage Township Trustee Jason Critchlow, Executive Director of Exceptional Learners for the South Bend Community School Corp. Tonia Brewer, Educational Consultant Karla Lee and SBCSC alumna Amaani Lee. In addition to providing details of the three bills and how they'd affect St. Joseph County, the presenters also encouraged attendees to take action by talking to their representatives and maintaining support for the county's public school districts.
Critchlow gave an overview of SB 1, which is currently making its way through the House.
Senate Bill 1 impact: How much may St. Joseph County schools, libraries, public safety, etc. lose in tax cuts?
As it was originally written, Senate Bill 1 would cut property taxes by capping tax increases at 2% to 3% each year. That version would also increase the homestead standard deduction. And it would require referendums that increase tax revenues to be placed on the ballot during general elections on even-numbered years as a way to boost transparency and voter input.
Since its initial introduction, the bill has seen some significant amendments, including changes to the homestead exemption and tax caps. But that doesn't mean that SB 1 wouldn't have a huge impact on local governments and, more poignant to Tuesday's town hall, institutions like schools.
"The possibility exists that Senate Bill 1 will lead to your local school system having to come in and cut 20% of the budget," Critchlow said. "… Those are not small things that are coming up. Those are big things that are no longer going to be happening as we have to reprioritize what it is we're going to be doing."
He said if the bill goes through, South Bend schools will lose $800,000 the first year, $1.6 million the second and $2.4 million the third.
Critchlow also talked about SB 518, which is also making its way though the House. The bill would require all traditional public school districts to share property tax revenue with charter schools in their attendance boundaries, if 100 or more kids leave the traditional district for charter schools, starting in 2028.
Details of Senate Bill 518: Charter schools, DEI, transgender athletes. These bills are still moving through the legislature
This includes referendum money, he said.
"Unfortunately, public schools find themselves in a situation where they're losing this funding from the state, so they're having to increase what they get from your property taxes in the referendum," Critchlow said, "and now the state comes in and says, 'Oh, by the way, you're going to share that money with charter schools.'"
He added that the bill is estimated to have an impact of $500 million over three years across the entire state.
SBCSC's Brewer spoke on HB 1136, which was introduced to the General Assembly by South Bend Republican state Rep. Jake Teshka.
More on House Bill 1136: South Bend's Teshka authors bill to dissolve low-enrolled schools, make them charters
The bill proposed that if over half of the students who "have legal settlement" in an Indiana school corporation's geographic district attend a non-corporation school, according to the 2024 fall average daily membership, the corporation would be dissolved and its schools reorganized as charter schools.
HB 1136 would have also created a new governing board that would be appointed rather than elected, as well as requirements and procedures for dissolving and reorganizing the affected school corporation.
Brewer said school corporation "takeovers" are nothing new; in fact, she said, the Gary Community School Corp. has been under state oversight for the last seven years and is just now reassuming control this school year.
Gary was $19 million in debt before the takeover, Brewer said, and now the district is in the black, but the schools are not doing better academically than they were seven years ago.
She added that a 2021 study from Rice University found that school takeovers are "highly disruptive to students" and were "focused on very specific communities that were communities of color (and) other communities that may have the same or similar financial or academic struggles."
HB 1136 is no longer making its way through the legislature this year, but state Rep. Maureen Bauer, who was in attendance on Tuesday night, still encouraged attendees to keep an eye on the bill.
"Rest assured," Bauer said, "it didn't move forward but could always come back next year."
Karla Lee spoke on the literacy crisis across the country, saying that she sees a path forward in building collaboration among schools, parents and local public and private businesses.
She added that change can come about only when those separate groups work together.
"Oftentimes it is said in literacy that it is an achievement gap," Karla Lee said. "And I would like to argue with you all tonight that it's not necessarily an achievement gap, but it's an educational opportunity gap."
Tuesday's town hall focused on encouraging continued support for the area's public school corporations.
Amaani Lee, a graduate of South Bend's Washington High School, continued her education at the University of Notre Dame and is now working at South Bend Orthopaedics. She said her time in South Bend schools made her a better person and prepared her well for her time in college and beyond.
"I believe that the South Bend Community School Corporation has the propensity to breed great people," Amaani Lee said. "And so that's why meetings like this are so important, because we must fight to keep the South Bend Community School Corporation intact so that we can continue to educate and continue to foster great people that will, in turn, return to our community and make it a better place."
She said the goal of Tuesday's meeting was to inform attendees about what's going on and how they can take a stand.
"I think we're walking away with information that is going to allow us to get together in the future and continue to collaborate and … strategize on how we're going to maneuver in the next years and the next months so that we can move toward a common goal," Amaani Lee said. "And right now, our common goal is keeping our school corporation intact and educating all of South Bend."
Email South Bend Tribune education reporter Rayleigh Deaton at [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend town hall shares details of General Assembly legislation