Citing an upward enrollment trend since its release from state control, Gary Community School Corp. officials railed against a legislative proposal Wednesday aimed at dissolving the newly reorganized school district.
The emergence of the bill, filed by state Rep. Jake Teshka, R-North Liberty, has stunned the district and city leaders. It comes just six months after the state appointed the majority of school board members to lead the district and hire a new superintendent.
House Bill 1136 calls for a school district to dissolve if more than 50% of students in its legal settlement area attend school elsewhere by the fall 2024 student count date.
Five districts, including Gary and the Indianapolis Public Schools, would be impacted. Tri-Township Consolidated Schools in Wanatah would also be affected.
“I authored this legislation to ensure school corporations are giving our children the best education possible and to find solutions in districts where the current governance is failing its students,” said Teshka in a statement.
In Gary’s case, about 65% of eligible students who live within the district don’t attend its schools. According to state fall enrollment data, there were 11,764 children in Gary’s settlement area and 35%, or 4,144, attended the Gary Community School Corp.
Since the fall semester began, officials said about 370 additional students have come into the district.
The students who left over the past two decades have been drawn to the city’s eight charter schools, private schools, and to neighboring school districts.
Communications director Chelsea Whittington told the school board when the district fell under state control from 2017 to 2024, it triggered a period of uncertainty for parents that led to another exodus from the district.
Since last year, the district has established a school board, hired Superintendent Yvonne Stokes, organized a leadership team and begun efforts to lure students back. Whittington said the upward enrollment trend reflects those efforts.
“This legislation seeks to stop us in our tracks,” Whittington said.
Board member Glenn Johnson has been talking with school board members from Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties about the legislation.
“This is a concern for members across the state,” he said. “We’re working to come up with a response… we’re not taking this lightly.”
Board member Vanessa Allen McCloud encouraged district staff and community members to speak with one voice against the legislation.
“We will definitely fight against this,” she said.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, retired teacher Carolyn McCrady said the bill is “the opening shot” by the GOP to dismantle public education.
“We have a fight on our hands, and I think we know that. I understand the Heritage Foundation is behind this legislation,” McCrady said.
“We are the poster child for charter schools… we have more than anyone and it’s drained our budget.”
She said lawmakers backed charter schools to offer choice to parents and soon there could be no choice for parents who want their kids in traditional public schools.
Tracy Coleman, a Gary attorney and parent, opposed the bill, as well.
She criticized its co-author, state Rep. Jeff Thompson, R-Lizton, who attended a June meeting in Gary as a member of the state Distressed Unit Appeal Board. At that meeting, the DUAB voted to release the district from state control.
“Thompson was sitting at the table congratulating us and at the same time trying to put 700 employees of the Gary Community School Corp. in the unemployment line,” she said.
Coleman encouraged the board to develop its own legislative agenda and brace for the conflict ahead.
Teshka’s bill was assigned to the House Education Committee. It’s unclear whether committee chairman Robert Behning, R-Indianapolis, will give the bill a hearing so it can move forward.
Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
