MCCSC considers combining Childs, Templeton and Fairview, University schools

The Monroe County Community School Corp. is considering consolidating Childs Elementary with Templeton Elementary and University Elementary with Fairview Elementary to reduce socioeconomic disparities in the district.

MCCSC Superintendent Jeff Hauswald was tasked by the school board in November with presenting a strategy or strategies “that would improve the balance of SES [socioeconomic status] between our elementary schools.”

Hauswald said he used socioeconomic status as defined by the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) as “the number of students who qualify for free or reduced lunch as based on income eligibility guidelines.” Based on this definition, he identified the MCCSC schools with the highest percentage of students eligible for free or reduced lunch and those with the lowest.

According to the IDOE, Fairview, Arlington Heights, Highland Park and Templeton elementary schools have the most students enrolled in free/reduced school lunches, ranging from 64% to 78%, while Childs, Binford, Rogers and Marlin have the lowest, ranging from 15% to 29%.

Hauswald said Tuesday that his proposal aims to address inequities in the school system caused by Indiana’s school funding approach. Hauswald pointed to two changes as having had a profound effect on school equality.

Addressing disparities between elementary schools

The first, he said, was Indiana’s school finance reform between 2008 and 2009, in which school funding shifted almost entirely from local property taxes to state income tax. The second was the expansion of Indiana’s Choice Scholarship Program to 400% of the income eligibility requirements for the federal free or reduced price lunch program — frequently referred to as a “near universal” voucher program. Both contributed to a model in which “dollars followed students” and schools began receiving the majority of their funding based on enrollment.

Hauswald pointed to the three-year phased relocation of the Accelerated Learning Program for Students (ALPS) from University Elementary to Fairview Elementary, which began this school year, as positive evidence of better academic programming in improving socioeconomic disparities in the district.

When MCCSC added ALPS to Fairview’s third and fourth grade and eliminated ALPS at University Elementary this year, Fairview saw a 6% decrease in its free/reduced lunch enrollment rate, Hauswald said.

“You can see that the decision of the board to move the ALPS program is already reducing that range, that imbalance of the SES between our schools,” Hauswald said.

Transitioning to consolidated schools

Hauswald proposed a similar three-year transition timeline for the two consolidations. Strategy No. 1, which consolidates Childs and Templeton, would transition Childs to a “primary school” serving pre-K through second grade and Templeton to an “intermediate school” serving third through sixth grade.

Strategy No. 2, which consolidates University and Fairview, would transition University to a “primary school” serving pre-K through third grade, and Fairview to an “intermediate school” serving fourth through sixth grade.

Of MCCSC's 14 elementary schools, Fairview has the highest percentage of students on free/reduced lunch at 78% and Childs has the lowest at 15%. Implementing both consolidations would mean Arlington Heights would have the highest percentage of students on free/reduced lunch at 65% and Binford would have the lowest at 21%.

Combining Childs and Templeton would result in about 37% of that student population qualifying for the free/reduced lunch program, placing the new school squarely in the middle of MCCSC elementaries. Combining Fairview with University would result in about 54% of students qualifying, putting the new combined elementary among the five schools with the highest percentage of lower-income students.

Hauswald was careful to say the reconfiguration is not redistricting, which he said requires additional analysis to ensure compliance with state and federal laws.

School board hopes for public feedback

Following Hauswald’s presentation, board member Brandon Shurr introduced a motion to revisit the proposal at the Jan. 9 meeting to allow for public discussion and comment. The motion was approved unanimously.

“Now we’ve had the presentation on it, and then you have the public comment, so that the community, and us as well, can look at this, can talk with our neighbors and our friends, and sort of discuss it for a while before we come to the next meeting,” Shurr said.

Consolidation of the schools would ultimately fall under the purview of the school board, and would be reviewed by the MCCSC legal counsel.

Reach Brian Rosenzweig at brian@heraldt.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Monroe County elementary schools could be consolidated