North Judson-San Pierre School Corporation officials will ask voters to approve a property tax referendum this fall to help fund day-to-day school operations. Superintendent Lynn Johnson says a combination of declining enrollment and state budget cuts have forced the corporation to cut $2.5 million since 2010. She stresses there are no plans to close schools or consolidate with another corporation, despite rumors to the contrary.
Johnson told the audience at last night’s fight for public education informational meeting she is still crunching numbers and hopes to have a dollar figure for the proposed increase by early June. She mentioned $800,000 a year for each of the next seven as a round number to boost the corporation’s general fund balance again, but stresses that figure is not yet firm. First the school board will need to pass a resolution to seek a tax increase, and then a political action committee will need to be formed to raise money for the endeavor. Johnson says neither board members nor teachers are allowed to serve on such a committee.
More information is available on the North Judson-San Pierre School corporation website at http://www.njsp.k12.in.us/the-fight-for-public-education.html. Johnson’s presentation as well as comments from school board president Pat Goin and treasurer Guy Richie will be featured on Sunday’s Kankakee Valley Viewpoints program at noon CDT on K99.3 WKVI-FM.
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