From the Muncie Star-Press:
Muncie Community Schools board and administrators are coming to grips with a financial reality — revenue is not keeping pace with expenses.
The school system, and by extension Muncie citizens, face difficult choices. Chief among them is how to save money, yet provide a top education to all students.
The school board is wrestling with the hard decision of closing one or more schools as enrollment continues to decline, and with it, revenue provided by the state and the local property tax base.
For too long these kinds of difficult decisions tied to enrollment were put off, as administrators struggled to stick to the status quo, possibly in hopes of a reversal of fortunes. That didn’t happen, and it’s not likely to in the future.
Regardless of what came yesterday and how we ended up in this fiscal nightmare, one glaring fact remains, there is no money available for school bus transportation when the next school year begins.
In an era of belt-tightening it might seem incongruent that voters are being asked to raise their taxes to pay for school buses.
It’s a decision, however, that should be a no-brainer: A Nov. 5 referendum to fund bus transportation must pass, because getting students to school is vital to their success and for the future of Muncie.
A successful referendum would enable MCS to continue bus service to about 3,300 students. It would also allow MCS to restore transportation funding for field trips, athletics, music and a late-activity bus.
Should the referendum fail and the buses stop running, which could be the case for the 2014-15 school year, school officials expect attendance to nosedive.
The demographics of the school system are unique with 75 percent of the student population qualifying for free- or reduced-lunches. Bottom line: Some parents don’t have the resources to get their kids to school.
We have to question whether parents will allow their kindergarten student to walk 10 blocks to catch a MITS bus, then ride on that bus with adults to school.
Probably not going to happen.
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http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013310270032
