Tribune-Star Editorial: Community's biggest decision lies ahead — modernizing schools
A commitment must be made to provide the county's youngest residents 21st-century facilities in which to learn.
By 2040, just 15 years from now, today's Vigo County School Corp. kindergartners will be in college, military service or the workforce. The county's existing high school structures would be nearly 70 or 80 years old by then, if still in use. West Vigo and especially Terre Haute North and Terre Haute South high schools already show their age and obsolescence.
The average age of all VCSC schools is 43 years. None of the five middle schools were built in the 21st century. The newest elementary schools are now 21 years old. Gibraltar Design — an Indianapolis architectural firm studying the feasibility of options to address the school district's facility needs — says those needs are 'heavy' at North, South and West Vigo, as well as Woodrow Wilson and West Vigo middle schools, and DeVaney, Ouabache, Rio Grande and Sugar Grove elementaries.
Gibraltar gave an update on the findings of its district-wide study, still ongoing, to the Vigo County School Board on Monday night.
Some sort of action will have to occur. Vigo County kids deserve an education in an atmosphere that maximizes their education. Committing more funds into repairing the aging schools is becoming less cost effective.
This latest VCSC facilities study, like the previous ones, will be valuable and merits broad public attention. The turf it covers is not smooth and easy.
The Vigo County and Terre Haute population has remained static, and most significantly the family-age sector has not grown. As VCSC Superintendent Chris Himsel pointed out at Monday's meeting, the school district included 20,000 students in 1972. The K-through-12 enrollment's decline since then is expected to dwindle to about 12,500 in the next few years.
Of course, the prime stumbling block — as always in any community — is funding. That element is complicated in the Hoosier state, given the property-tax caps put in place early in this century by the Legislature, limiting the traditional source of funds for school maintenance. The primary method for raising property-tax funds for a major school construction project is a public referendum, and the Indiana General Assembly is considering limits on when such referendums can occur.
And, a 2022 facilities referendum on a $261-million project to rebuild and renovate the Vigo County high schools and West Vigo Middle School was resoundingly defeated by voters. That outcome raised questions about whether the county would ultimately end up with fewer than three high schools, once those buildings finally wore completely out.
So, this new feasibility study will study options on how to handle upgrading the local schools at a time when enrollments are dropping.
Meanwhile, a group of community elected officials and legislators are supporting a bill in the Legislature to create a local oversight board and facilitate the potential use of county funds for VCSC facility improvements. The aim would be to find funds for a facility upgrade without a tax increase or referendum.
It is a tough needle to thread. But something must be done.
As Himsel put it, the School Board and VCSC must 'make sure we meet the needs that our kids have and our teachers have, which is to upgrade facilities. We want to make sure our facilities enhance learning, and not detract from learning.'
It is hard to tell what conclusions may be reached, but hard decisions are ahead.
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