Gary Schools Asks State To Close Schools To Combat Debt

Like Muncie schools, Gary Community School Corporation is classified as a distressed political subdivision and is under the care of state-appointed emergency manager.  Today, that manager told state officials the district faces an $18 million annual deficit.  And, as Indiana Public Broadcasting’s Eric Weddle reports, the solution includes school closures.

School officials says they want to eliminate an annual spending deficit by the end of 2019. Their tools to do that include staff layoffs and a tax increase referendum.

Gary emergency manager Peggy Hinckley asked the distressed unit appeal board to let her close the Wirt-Emerson Performing Arts high school and the district’s central office this summer.

Students and administrators would be relocated to the district’s last remaining high school — West Side Academy. Hinckley says consolidation will help improve academics.

“While the goal would be to order a larger course selection because we have more students to be able to offer them to. When you are running classrooms with less than ten students it is not very efficient.”

The state took over Gary Schools last year due to academic failures and more than $100 million in debt.

State officials will vote March 2^nd  whether approve the school closure plan.