Katheryn Downard wants her kids to grow up in a rural school — just like she did. That’s why she’s sending her kids to Hoosier Prairie Elementary School.
“The smaller the school, the more it feels like family, and when you have a family, you're more likely to have students that are successful,” Downard said.
Downard learned this summer that Hoosier Prairie and three other elementary schools in Terre Haute would eventually close as part of a plan to modernize Vigo County schools.
Officials will revamp the district after decades of drastically shrinking enrollment and disrepair. Superintendent Chris Himsel said the district will close, repair and consolidate schools over the next few years. He said this will even out class sizes, pool resources and provide more extracurricular options.
“We're going to go from 15 elementary schools to 10 elementary schools, from five middle schools to four, and from three high schools to two,” Himsel said.
Downard launched a petition to save Hoosier Prairie. More than 1,000 people have signed that petition, and she plans to present it to the school board.
Downard says Vigo schools do need to be modernized, but she’s also afraid her kid might miss out on close connections in a larger student body.
“Yes, I think that change needs to happen, but I don't think that closing down all of these rural schools is going to help,” Downard said.
Himsel has heard concerns similar to Downard’s, but he said the corporation has to consider three problems.
The first is that Vigo County has lost thousands of students in the last 50 years.
“Our enrollment from the early 1970s was over 21,000 students,” Himsel said. “We're now around 12,500 students.”
Funding is another problem. Meanwhile, Himsel said the district can’t afford repairs, transportation, utilities and more for 23 schools.
“So basically, what we end up with is we have $23 million of annual needs, and that's assuming all of our buildings are brought up to an acceptable level, and we only have $9 million in which to do that,” Himsel said.
The third problem is that there aren’t enough applicants or funding to sustain teachers, guidance counselors and other staff.
“If we were to apply the rates of inflation from 2010 to 2024, we're about $10 million behind where our funding would be if we did keep up with rates of inflation,” Himsel said.
Changes could take years
The changes are already in motion. It’s an extensive process, but Himsel said he’s optimistic.
“We're talking about a minimum of about five years before we can fully implement everything,” Himsel said.
Himsel said the work will begin with renovating West Vigo High School. Then, a new high school will be built. Ideally, the district will work on both high schools at the same time, Himsel said.
North and South High Schools will be converted into middle schools.
“Once we put the shovel in the ground, we're probably looking at three years out before we can move into the new high school, at which time we can then remodel the current high schools and get them ready for middle school spaces,” Himsel said.
Davis Park Elementary, Hoosier Prairie Elementary, Rio Grande Elementary, and Oubache Elementary will close. Farrington Grove Elementary School will transition into an alternative school.
Sugar Creek Consolidated Elementary School will become a middle school. Honey Creek Middle School, Otter Creek Middle School and Sarah Scott Middle Schools will be converted into elementary schools.
“I absolutely love and adore our smaller elementary schools, the schools that serve about 250 to 360 students,” Himsel said. “But the reality of it is that they're very expensive to run and operate, and they have very inconsistent class sizes.”
Himsel said the changes to elementary schools will even out class sizes across the district.
“The larger schools that have four, five or six sections of a grade level actually have smaller and more consistent class sizes over time than the smaller elementary schools,” Himsel said.
Dixie Bee Elementary School, in partnership with Ivy Tech Community College, will eventually be converted into a career and technical education center.
The corporation currently offers technical education at all three high schools, but Himsel said it struggles with staffing demand.
“If we can combine those programs — such as our machining programs or agriculture programs — not only do we reduce the amount of staffing needs, we also can justify the existence of the program,” Himsel said. “Because when you combine the number of students, there's more than enough.”
Sugar Grove Elementary School will become an early childhood learning center for the south side of Terre Haute. Deming Early Learning Center will serve the north side of the city. Himsel said the centers will help young children seamlessly flow into kindergarten and address shortages in education opportunities for that age.
“What we're trying to do is to take care of this waiting list of parents who want experiences for their three-year-olds and their four-year-olds, and to make sure that we are providing those opportunities for them by doing it inside the school,” Himsel said.
Paying for the changes without raising taxes
The school corporation hasn’t yet determined the plan’s total cost.
The district already lacks funding, and the Vigo County government might be a solution.
“From all different perspectives, we're just incredibly happy to be involved with the conversation,” said Commissioner Chris Switzer.
Thanks to a change in Indiana law, the county could transfer funding to another tax-collecting agency, such as local schools. Vigo County will have a five-member board by early next year to do just that.
“We are going to make a request to the Vigo County Council to pay for some legal fees and some type of administrative work to make sure this board gets organized,” Switzer said. “Upon the completion of that, we'll really get into the finer details of what the funding looks like from the county's perspective to the school corporation.”
A recent Vigo County Schools survey shows residents were concerned about the state of facilities and believed modernizing schools could attract families and businesses. But, in that same survey, residents had mixed feelings about making significant investments.
Himsel and Switzer both know locals don’t want their taxes raised. Residents voted against recent referendums, and Himsel said the corporation will try to work with already existing funding.
“Of course, nobody likes additional taxation, which is why local government got involved, to see if we could supplement some of the school's projects with already in place taxing capabilities,” Switzer said.
Switzer says the plan probably won’t make everybody happy, but he believes people are coming around to it.
“It's not that I agree or disagree with all the changes as well, but something has to change,” Switzer said. “I don't think any of us want to do anything without making sure the community is at least on board.”
The school board and county government are encouraging residents to reach out and ask questions. Vigo County Schools School Board presentations, and Himsel said the information is also available on the corporation’s website.
“Every single thing that we have shared with the board has also been shared with our community,” Himsel said. “We'd be happy to meet with any of them to answer their questions.”
