Franklin_Township

How the Economy Has Affected Franklin Township Schools Loretta Renner COM/150 May 16, 2010 Tracey Schoonmaker How the Economy Has Affected Franklin Township Schools What is the future education of our children worth, school closings, budget cuts, “pay to- participate” athletic programs, and lawsuits' Franklin Township Schools are on the southeast side of Marion County, Indiana. Franklin Township has experienced a steady growth in the last few years. There have been some changes in the eight years of living in Franklin Township. Some of the changes are they add two elementary schools, two intermediate schools, one middle school, and added on to the high school. There are seven elementary schools k- 4 grades, two intermediate schools 5- 6 grades, two middle schools 7- 8 grades, one high school 9- 12 grades. The school board was going to change some of the schools around with the closing of two schools. They are not going to proceed with the original plans of turning Edgewood Intermediate into a Early Learning Center for preschool and kindergarten, and Kitley Intermediate into elementary school for grades 1- 5 and middle schools to grades 6- 8. Now that they decided to leave open the other two schools. The schools will remain as they are. The board members voted to keep the schools “open as a means of preserving the community (Marshall, 2010). The school board voted to raised price of lunch by fifty- two cents, and raised the of price of all- day kindergarten by $ 1,600 dollars which has double from this year. The school board was going too laid off fifty teachers, and they are going to cut some of the other staff members like custodians, and maintenance workers. The school was supposed to cut teachers positions. Dr. Walter Brourke is the Superintendent of school board in Franklin Township. Brourke said “it is not possible to follow through on eliminating certain positions.” It is yet to be determining “how many teachers will be laid off,” may not know until June or July (Marshall, 2010). Therefore, high school students that need to ride the bus to and from school will need to pay $ 375 dollars for the school year. All other elementary, intermediate, and middle schools would pay $ 75 dollars or less depending on the grades and the number of students per bus. The students are not able to walk to school because the streets are too busy, and there are no city sidewalks in Franklin Township that the students can walk to school safety. The school board is “eliminating forty- four drivers (Bonner, 2010) as part of the budget cut backs. The students will have to walk farther to catch their bus. The middle and high school students will need to leave ten minutes earlier to catch the bus on time. The elementary and intermediate school students need to leave five minutes earlier to catch the bus on time. As part of budget cut the students will need to “pay to participate” in sports. Athletic Directors will try to schedule all away on the same day and time to help keep the cost down. For the games that are away is here in the city will pay $ 10 dollars per bus ride. Depending on the number of participants in programs it could get dropped for the season. It is up to the Athletic Department Directors to watch the number of students to participate after- school activities and then decide whether or not to cancel the season of that particular sport. Athletic Directors are “exploring various forms of raising additional funds assists all sports in covering the cost per athletic who is free and reduced lunch plan” (Koers, 2010). Franklin Township Community Corporation has been filed a lawsuit against the state of Indiana. Superintendent Bourke said “his district has been unfairly penalized by a mechanism in the law that allows school districts to continue to collect money for students who have transferred to other school” (Gammill and Ruthhart, 2010, pg. 2). The district can’t “afford not to file the suit,” Bourke said (Gammill and Ruthhart, 2010, pg. 2). The state penalizes growing districts like our by using the pass enrollments instead of the current enrollment to calculate funds. The students would move but the money would stay at the last school the student was at instead of moving with the student. “Schools where more students are eligible for free and reduced- cost lunches also get more money” (Indianapolis Business Journal, 2010, pg. 1). The township has grown by 4,000 students in the last ten years. “Under the shortest time frame, the legislature could do an end- run on the lawsuit by reworking the way schools are funded next year. Similar lawsuits in other states have taken decades to wend their way through the courts” (Gammill and Ruthhart, pg 3, 2010). It seems to come down by numbers Franklin Township gets $ 5,035 per student. Whereas Indianapolis Public Schools get $ 7,338 per student, yet Indianapolis Public Schools has had a drop in students in the last five years. “Individual student have been negatively impacted by these budget cuts, including being forced to enroll in classes with large student- to teacher ratios, being denied educational programs, and attending over- crowded schools” (Confidential Attorney Work Product Version, pg 18, 2010). All the budget cuts in our school system could jeopardize “no kids left behind” standards. The budget is calling for fifty or more teachers to be laid off. The students will need to pay to ride the bus to and from school. It has also reached the bus drivers which forty- four will be affected. Also, the school board wants to implement a “pay- to- participate” in all sports programs. Franklin Township filed a lawsuit against the state. In the long run the student will be hurt the most because of fewer teachers. References Confidential Attorney work Product Version (2010) http://www.ftcsc.k12.in.us Districts’ lawsuit may spark political fireworks Authors Andy Gammill & Bill Ruthhart (2010) Indianapolis Star- www.indianapolisstar.com Franklin Central High School Author Kevin Koers (2010) E-mail kevin.koers@ftcsc.k12.in.us Franklin Township High School students may face $ 375 bus fee wishtv Bonner (2010) http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/news/education/HS-students-may-face-375-bus-fee Franklin Township may hold another school referendum Author Cindy Marshall (2010) http://www.indy.com/posts/franklin-township-may-hold-another-school-referendum Schools Decry Funding in Lawsuit Author Indianapolis Business Journal (2010) http://www.ibj.com/schools-decry-funding-disparity-in-lawsuit/PARAMS/article/18295 2 twp. Schools to stay open IndyStar Author Cindy Marshall (2010) http://www.indystar.com/fdcp/'1272156053404