Cloudy14

Nice name and good luck to the new conference - Sagamore #2 probably would get confusing.

@Muda69 While he doesn't say it explicitly, here are a couple of quotes below that appear to encourage it. I see the quote at the bottom of the article stating it is a local matter, but he still qualifies it with the "unpleasant" quote. It's also hard to deny the entire tone of the article is set toward consolidation. So, if you have low educational attainment that’s keeping your local economy from growing, or if you face a local nursing shortage, it is time to connect the dots to local school corporations. Still, our research, and that of many scholars before us tells a clear story. Very small school corporations, with roughly 2,000 or fewer students, are shortchanging the educational outcomes of a substantial share of their students.

@Muda69 Yes, I read the Ball State study (located here for reference: https://www.indianachamber.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/School-Corp-Size-2024.pdf) The conclusion was summarized in one sentence: "Increasing school corporation size to around 2,000 students has the potential to reduce per pupil cost and free up funds for classroom instruction of other purposes which could improve the educational outcomes of students." It is important to note that they use aggregated data to perform this study and they do not dive deeper into each school corporation to address potential outlier conditions. For example, the number of foreign exchange students, the number of special education students and those with an IEP. All these items (and more) can affect graduation rate or test scores. I think the study provides insight, but should be expanded to provide real insight to the unique qualities at all schools. As a reminder, these are children, not numbers and each child will flourish in different settings. I think my main point is that I would caution consolidation based on aggregate data and leave this up to the communities where the children and their parents live.

@Muda69 what are the unpleasant facts? Not trying to be combative, but I guess I'm not sure what is unpleasant. In my opinion, leaving this decision to the community should be the proper route. The ISBA also states: Indiana’s approach is to have the state carry more and more varied and individual expenses for education, not to consolidate them. Its important to keep in mind that the discussion is being lead by the Indiana Chamber, not lawmakers.

Here is an opposing view from the ISBA: https://web.isba-ind.org/news/newsarticledisplay.aspx?ArticleID=1112

I'm not sure the taxpayers would be happy with a new building

I agree it is not good legislation, but it will likely be on the table this year, be ready to make noise for small schools.

5 Class conversation aside, I see the consolidation of small schools as an L for Indiana athletics, a lot of small schools have big traditions and history. Traditions and history would be erased by the stroke of a pen.

Indiana Chamber of Commerce is bringing up interesting legislation again - how would this affect high school sports in general? https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2023/10/06/school-consolidation-conversation-should-focus-on-fact-not-emotion/

do your teachers know you aren't in class?

Whoa! 4th Q comeback?

New to GID - lets see what happens. 1. Beech Grove 2. Lowell 3. New Prairie 4. Greenfield-Central 5. Tri-West 6. Lawrenceburg 7. North Harrison 8. Boone Grove 9. Western Boone 10. Andrean 11. Bluffton 12. Eastbrook 13. Evansville Mater Dei 14. Greencastle 15. Southmont 16. Clinton Prairie 17. North Miami 18. North Judson