South Bend wants to consolidate high schools. Here's what we know about plans.

SOUTH BEND — High school consolidation should come as no surprise to those closely following South Bend schools.

Administrators have hinted at it since since their $220 million referendum campaign two years ago and discussed plans with school board members in January 2021 to bring recommendations for possible consolidation ahead of the 2022-23 school year.

However, until recently, few specific details had been shared publicly about an ongoing facility planning process and no formal recommendations have been brought for middle and high school restructuring.

More input: Community pushes for more say in South Bend facility planning

Now, with the start of the 2022-23 school year just months away, planners are seeking feedback on three options for consolidation and closures meant to cut back on spending and "right-size" the district. But, options like building a new career center, creating an athletic complex and adding onto existing schools will likely take significant capital investments.

A community meeting last Thursday gave the community its most detailed look to date at what administrators' long-term plans could be for the district.

However, the general nature of the proposals leave open key questions about cost, financing and timelines for proposals that could dramatically reshape education in South Bend.

Why consolidation and why now?

The South Bend district has far too few students enrolled to fill all of its buildings, planners say. In data provided Thursday night, district leaders say the corporation's enrollment has declined by more than 10,000 students since 2007 and is expected to drop by another 1,000 students by 2024.

The district has taken some recent action — closing or repurposing seven schools since 2018 — but it still has a ways to go in "right sizing" its footprint. Between four high schools and seven middles schools, planners say more than 4,100 seats sit empty across the corporation, and it doesn't make sense to pay high operating costs for fewer students.

The district's operating revenue is further pinched by recently imposed caps on property tax collections and school officials have said that the corporation has about $117 million of deferred maintenance to catch up on.

The state is also rolling out new high school graduation requirements making now an ideal time to look at academic programming and evaluate ways to help students meet new workforce-focused graduation goals.

Administrators say the district also has about $30 million of capital referendum money left to plan for. When asked why the district hadn't conducted this type of detailed facility planning ahead of the corporation's 2020 referendum campaign, Assistant Superintendent Kareemah Fowler said administrators didn't have the time two years ago.

The district commissioned a broader efficiency study, Fowler said, but facilities planners this year have already been working for at least nine months, approximately the same amount of time school leaders spent planning their 2020 campaign.

And, Fowler said, the district had to move quickly to pass its referendum to account for a multimillion-dollar revenue shortfall expected when tax caps took effect in 2020.

Where will the money go?: Here's how SBCSC plans to spend referendum

Superintendent Todd Cummings was not in attendance for the highly anticipated community meeting last week. A majority of the hour-long presentation was given by an out-of-town consultant with the educational planning firm, HCM.

"In the referendum, we promised to have safe and secure buildings," Fowler said. "We promised facility upgrades and to right-size. We also promised to work on career innovation and tech. Some of those improvements are happening already in the buildings, but we need to finalize and look at what we're going to do going forward."

How much will consolidation cost?

It's not clear how much administrators' proposals will cost or how the projects, if given the green light, will be financed.

HCM consultant Tracy Richter mentioned several times last week a total of $35 million — more than what district leaders have said is left to budget of the corporation's capital referendum fund.

"$35 million in construction today doesn't go as far as we'd like it to," Richter said. "We have to be smart with our dollars when we invest them and then hopefully get the trust in there so in sometime down the future, we can have more dollars to do this."

The district has already invested more than $24 million over the last four years to capital improvement across middle and high schools. Much of that was paid for using the district's $54 million capital referendum, but some repairs pre-dating the referendum were funded through bonds, Fowler said.

The projects, or "options", that were presented last week are a part of an "a la carte" menu of ideas that the district could choose to mix or match, so no dollar figures were assigned to any one grouping of ideas, Fowler said.

The most detail planners shared publicly last week about cost comes through a summary page distributed to those who attended the Thursday night meeting.

Option A, which proposes a new athletics facility and centralized career center, appears to save the most money, as indicated by four dollars signs or "$$$$", compared to Options B and C which are marked with two dollars signs.

Options A and B also may cost more than Option C, a proposal to keep all high schools open and build a new career center, as indicated by three dollar signs or "$$$."

There is no scale explaining how much money each of these dollar signs represent.

Fowler told a reporter project costs could exceed the district's expected referendum collection, meaning a combination of referendum money and bond financing could be used to support the district's desired plan.

Where will the career center go?

Several ideas have been floated about where to place a new high school career center.

One plan calls for demolishing part of Clay High School and turning it into a "career technical center." Another suggests building from the ground up in a centralized location accessible to students across the county. If this were decided, facility planners say they don't yet have a set location in mind and are open to both building on district-owned property or pursuing new land.

"You think about business, city partnerships, and state partnerships," Richter said. "If there's that kind of ability to get that kind of stuff through partnership instead of cost, then you absolutely take advantage of that."

Richter said students' perceptions of school reputations and travel time across the city can be barriers to placing a career center at an existing high school.

Regardless of where the center goes, administrators see it as an opportunity to appeal more broadly to students not just from South Bend, but also from surrounding communities.

The center would not compete with or duplicate programs already offered in South Bend high schools, planners say, and investments would be made in existing magnet programs. A new center could also expand opportunities for dual credit courses and industry certifications.

It would be the first of its kind for St. Joseph County, which currently does not have a county-serving career center. Chad Addie, the district's superintendent for college and workforce readiness, said he's already had discussions with multiple nearby high schools.

"If we're going to do this to really honor the referendum and the taxpayers, let's do it well, and widely and broadly to give all of our families as much access as possible," Addie said.

When will consolidation happen?

Planners say not to expect major changes next school year. Although, exact timelines are unclear.

"This can't happen next year, folks," Richter said Thursday. "We're in May already. That gives us about three months, and we've got a lot of investment to do. Renovations. Construction. We've got things to do before we can do anything."

School leaders say they're looking at options as a part of a long-range, five-to-10-year plan, and planning is being discussed in two parts. The first, presented last week, takes a look at middle and high schools. Elementary schools will be discussed in the fall.

The corporation is currently circulating a survey seeking input on each of the three consolidation "options". Planners expect to use the results of this survey to bring more information to the South Bend school board in mid-June, but the purpose of this meeting is unclear.

Fowler told a reporter that administrators would not bring recommendations to the board this summer, but instead "options." When asked if administrations would seek board action, she said district leaders planned only to give a presentation. Richter, however, spoke differently.

"It's a presentation of recommendations," the consultant said. "That's what I am charged with. Whether the board takes action on it is up to the board."

What role will the Department of Justice play?

As the only Indiana school district subject to a federal consent decree, South Bend schools must meet certain benchmarks to ensure desegregation among its schools.

Under the decree, the enrollment of Black students in each South Bend school must be within 15 percentage points of the district's overall Black student enrollment. School officials are also charged with ensuring Black students are provided equal access to transportation and academic programming.

The DOJ has sought information in the past about school closures, including recent decisions to close two elementary schools and explore the disannexation of Greene Township to the neighboring John Glenn School Corporation. The department has also recently asked about magnet recruitment and whether students are being sought for these programs equitability.

DOJ report: South Bend lacking progress in new student support plan

Oletha Jones, a school board member and former education chair for the South Bend chapter of the NAACP, said she's worried administrators are moving too quickly. She said she would like to see a thorough study of the effect of the corporation's last two restructuring plans, Plan Z in 2002 and Focus 2018, on students of color before moving forward with more consolidation.

Jones also expressed concern that recent presentations given to board members and a community task force have not been consistent with details provided to the broader public. For example, she said, in a recent executive session, planners placed a heavy emphasis on student equity while last week's meeting failed to broach the topic in depth.

"I believe it's important the community is aware of how deep and entrenched the inequities are," Jones said. "In something as big as this, everyone at every level needs to have the exact information from start to finish, because if we piece out information, one demographic is not going to get something they need to make an informed decision."

How can I learn more?

A breakdown of each consolidation "option" is available on The Tribune's website. The school corporation has also posted a video of its Thursday meeting on YouTube.

A community survey seeking feedback on each of the three consolidation options is available online and open through May 15.

The South Bend school board meets next at 5:30 p.m. Monday at the district's downtown Administration Building.

Email South Bend Tribune education reporter Carley Lanich at clanich@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @carleylanich.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: High schools in South Bend: Consolidation, budget cuts, closure plans