North Judson-San Pierre and Oregon-Davis schools will be taking a funding hit in the 2011-2012 school year. Eastern Pulaski School Superintendent, Dr. Robert Klitzman, was asked about the preliminary budget report from the state.
“They [the State] have released the first version of the funding formula and it is very, very unkind to the rural schools and it’s very unkind to those who may lose some student population,” explained Dr. Klitzman. “It has switched now where every single dollar follows the student so if I were to lose ten students, I will lose ten units of funding from the State. In fact, everybody knows that if I lose ten students in the Corporation, I can’t shut off lights, I can’t turn down the heat, I can’t do anything, but yet I’m going to lose all that funding. I really hope they can do some rethinking on that and come up with something that makes a lot more sense.”
Dr. Klitzman was asked about his opinion on legislation concerning school vouchers.
“I’m totally opposed to it and in my mind, I’m not even sure it’s constitutional,” he replied. “What the voucher bill is, and it’s called School Choice, they’re going to allow public money, taxes, to go to non-public schools. They’re going to allow them to go to private schools, to home schools, they’re going to start more charter schools, and I understand that it’s still a public school but it doesn’t operate by the same rules that we do. So in a time where there’s financial crisis, in terms of enough funds to generate things in Indiana, I fail to see the logic in starting new programs and taking money away from public schools and sending it to private schools. To me, it just doesn’t make sense. I hope those that are so inclined that they would voice their opinions to their elected representatives and say public money should go to public schools. If you want to go to a private school, you have every right to go, but it shouldn’t come out of public money.”
