Latest news with #DarrenWashington
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gary Leaders Push Back as State Bills Threaten City's Finances
With state lawmakers pushing a wave of bills that could reshape Gary's finance and governance, city leaders are working to stay ahead. The Gary Common Council is considering a new committee to track legislation, keep local officials and residents informed, and strengthen the city's ability to advocate for its interests at the state proposal, introduced last week by Councilman Darren Washington, comes as Indiana legislators advances a law that could weaken Gary's representation on the Gary/Chicago International Airport Authority board, along with a mandate forcing the city to repay millions due to a state accounting error. Washington cited the sheer number of bills in the legislature as a major factor necessitating the new committee. 'There are so many bills that fly through the Indiana General Assembly,' Washington said. 'Our legislators don't catch everything, and sometimes many of us have eyes, and we see certain things, and we can help them out and the administration out by looking at legislation that can be detrimental.' Council President Lori Latham said the committee is necessary to help Gary push back against increasingly direct challenges from the state. 'I remember a time when the forces against us were more subtle. However, subtlety has been lost. It's been, in many ways — especially with the airport bill — an all-out attack. I think a committee will be a way for us to at least begin to organize, to defend ourselves again,' she said. 'Gary is under attack; there's no nice way to say it,' Councilman Kenneth Whisenton said, supporting the committee's formation. Washington said the goal of the committee would be to highlight any legislation that impacts Gary. The idea would be to have state legislators come in and inform the council and the public of what legislation is moving through the Statehouse. 'They will be on Facebook, it will be recorded, and they can articulate bills that will be detrimental or benefit the municipal city,' said Washington. Several bills this session could significantly impact Gary. House Bill 1001 proposes reshaping Gary/Chicago International Airport's board, cutting Gary's mayoral appointees from four to one while granting appointments to Hammond, Crown Point, and the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District. The plan for the new committee comes just weeks after council members made the trek to Indianapolis as part of Accelerating Indiana's Municipalities, which hosted a finance workshop for Black elected officials. During their visit, the council met with members of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus. Another bill of interest for the council is House Bill 1448, which requires the city to pay back more than $12 million after the Indiana State Comptroller mistakenly sent funds to Gary originally earmarked for Michigan City and East Chicago. Latham said she and council members spoke specifically with state Rep. Greg Porter, D-Indianapolis, who's been advocating on their behalf as the ranking member on the House Ways and Means Committee, which is where HB 1448 has been heard. 'It's great to see Gary's Common Council members rolling up their sleeves and advocating on behalf of Gary and its residents,' Porter said. 'We look forward to working with them more as we move Indiana and all of its great cities forward.' Council members met briefly with the bill's author, state Rep. Harold Slager, R-Schererville, at the Statehouse to discuss key details of the bill. 'We want to be compliant with the law and make sure Michigan City and East Chicago get what they are due,' Latham said. The current plan would require the city to pay a little more than $5 million from money already budgeted for 2025. 'We established the 2025 budget in 2024, so this is money that we've already budgeted for 2025, and then to make us pay more back and take money out of our budget for the next three years?' Latham said.'We're looking for a more reasonable solution, something that doesn't bankrupt us and require us to lay people off or disrupt city services,' she said. Beyond these immediate legislative battles, the governor's plan to cut property taxes has concerned city leaders. The Gary Common Council met with Gov. Mike Braun in the statehouse as part of a 'Hoosier Huddle' where they discussed possible changes to property tax collection. 'The cuts would be absolutely destructive to local cities and towns in Indiana,' Latham told Capital B Gary. 'You can't repeal such a large source of revenue for local cities and towns without any substantial plan for how local governments will be paying police officers and firefighters.' The post Gary Leaders Push Back as State Bills Threaten City's Finances appeared first on Capital B Gary.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gary Unites Against Bill That Could Erase Public Schools
With a possible hearing in the Statehouse for House Bill 1136 looming, the fight over the future of public education in Gary has escalated into a battle for the district's survival. Seeing the bill as a direct threat to its schools and community, the Gary Common Council voted unanimously on Jan. 21 to approve a resolution condemning the bill. The resolution is the latest sign of growing opposition in Gary to the bill, which was written by members of the Republican caucus of the state legislature and has sparked a citywide effort to rally against it. Just months after regaining local control following seven years of state-appointed management, city officials and community leaders argue that the bill threatens to erase the progress made in restoring the district before it has had time to stabilize. 'House Bill 1136 will cause impacted school districts to potentially lose oversight and open ownership of school assets, property and additional value of historic significance to the city of Gary, Indiana,' the resolution reads. House Bill 1136 would dissolve Indiana school districts where less than 50% of resident students attend public schools within the district, converting those public schools into charter schools by July 2028. If passed, the bill would impact five Indiana school districts and 68 schools statewide, including the Gary Community School Corporation. Gary's public school system has shrunk significantly in recent years, leaving families with more nonpublic school options than public ones. The Gary Community School Corporation currently operates 11 schools, including a virtual academy and a single public high school. By contrast, there are 12 nonpublic schools available to Gary students, including five alternative high school options. With more charter and private institutions than traditional public schools, many families have opted for nonpublic education, whether due to school closures, academic offerings, or concerns about the state-managed district's past financial struggles. This imbalance in available options has contributed to the low in-district enrollment — one of the key metrics House Bill 1136 uses to determine whether a school system should be dissolved and its schools converted into charters. At recent school board and council meetings, community leaders and residents have voiced concerns that House Bill 1136 could strip local control and erase key parts of Gary's history. The resolution passed this month by the Gary Common Council echoes those fears, warning of the bill's potential impact on the city's schools and assets. Councilman Darren Washington, a former member of Gary's school board and author of the resolution, told Capital B Gary the bill would render the years of the state takeover pointless. 'Our take is, if you put us through a seven-year probationary period managing our funds with an emergency manager, how can you allow the Gary Community School Corporation to be a part of legislation that could potentially unearth all the hard work that was done by the school district, the teachers and the emergency manager?' Washington asked. 'It seems that this bill's goal is to turn those schools into charter schools.' Gary resident Natalie Ammons spoke publicly at the council meeting shortly before the resolution's passage, encouraging neighbors to join the fight. 'House Bill 1136 is detrimental to our community,' she said. 'We need to all join together and fight this bill and make sure that it does not dismantle the education system here. Get in touch with someone. Make the phone calls. Make the meetings. Do whatever we can to save our schools.' According to Gary Community School Corporation data, nearly 400 students have enrolled since local control was restored in October. However, the bill designates October 2024 as the enrollment count deadline, raising concerns about its impact on the district's recent progress. The bill has not yet advanced out of the House Education Committee, leaving some legislators questioning its true purpose. 'One of the things that we're hearing is that it's being put out as a bargaining chip,' said Democratic state Sen. Andrea Hunley of Indianapolis, whose public school district would also be dissolved under the legislation. 'It's being put out as a threat of what could pass in order to negotiate on other issues. That's not how we do legislation here in Indiana.' 'We do not send entire communities into distress. We do not send teachers and our most vulnerable students into a panic because of the threat of disbanding school boards. This bill would completely eliminate those elected positions that are our closest elected positions to our communities, and we definitely do not want to see the further erosion of public education.' Beyond the political implications, Michaela Spangenburg of the Gary Education Coalition said she is most troubled by the lack of community input in how charter schools are run. She also raised concerns about the quality of education they provide compared to traditional public schools.'All the mechanisms that we take for granted within a school do not necessarily exist within a charter school and can be very easily removed and changed within charter school systems compared to a public school system,' she said. The school district has also called on the community for support, urging residents to speak out as it fights for its survival. GCSC Superintendent Yvonne Stokes said the district is still in the early stages of rebuilding and needs time to continue its progress. 'It has only been six months since the Gary Community School Corporation was released from a seven-year state takeover. During this time, there was an exodus of thousands of students from the district. Since regaining local control, we have been laser-focused on increasing enrollment, maintaining financial solvency, and enhancing curriculum to improve the overall educational experience for children,' Stokes said. Spangenburg encouraged residents to be proactive not just with reaching out to their representatives, but those in other areas of the state. 'Our legislators in our district agree with us,' she said. 'They are already fighting the fight. We have to make sure we're talking to people who may not be familiar with us. Or who may not have anybody that's talking to them.' She added, 'I really hope that we can all come together as a community and actually start to fight hard. At the end of the day, the community has to set the agenda nine times out of 10 for anything to get done.' The post Gary Unites Against Bill That Could Erase Public Schools appeared first on Capital B Gary.
