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Franklin Township Follies

There’s nothing like taking taxpayer money, using it to sue taxpayers in order to get more of the taxpayers’ money.   And then again there is nothing like the Franklin Township School District.

It’s one thing to go to the taxpayers and ask them to give up some of their property tax relief so administrators can build more buildings.  But the District, along with Hamilton Southeastern,  has also decided to sue the state of Indiana over the school funding formula.

Officials say the funding formula is unfair because since they are the 29th largest school district they shouldn’t be 251st when it comes to state funding.   Of course this is the same school district that had no problem finding $4.3 million for a new football stadium a few years back.

The school funding formula is complicated stuff.   But basically it comes down to a couple things;  your student population and how many of them live in poverty.  You get more kids, you get more cash.  You have more poor kids, you get more cash.   So if Franklin Township wants to max out on state funding,  it should start taking in a lot more poor students.

That makes more sense than using the taxpayers’ money to sue the taxpayers so you can get more of the taxpayers’ money.

Posted: 08|27|09 at 7:20 am by Abdul Hakim-Shabazz
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  • guest
    Abdul,

    Check on something for me. I know for a fact that many public schools offer laptop computers for free to their students. Maybe I am getting bad information from a parent. Case in point, Jeremiah Gray-Edison Elementary School in Perry Township. Question, should they be getting free laptops? With belt tighting around Marion County, should fourth and fifth graders be getting free laptops? Computers in the classrooms in one thing.
  • pascal
    Recheck your facts, checker. As far as you go it is correct. But, it is possible, administratively, to offer and count as "poverty" children the whole school. Eliminate that and the poverty numbers will go way down, not that poverty has anything to do with anything other than an excuse for incompetent teachers and poorly performing administrators. Most kids whose biological parents divorce fall instantly into poverty. The State makes the rules on divorce as well and by greatly liberalizing them in the 1960's (no fault) greatly increased the role of lawyers and the bar in public life (and their income).
  • agman
    Interesting ---some would say that in that the state sets all the rules and the state decides on the distribution of funding---thou shalt be satisfied with all the state's action. The distribution formula is a mess and will likely remain so.
  • guy77money
    There are two questions here. 1. Is the case valid? Can the case change how funding (winnable) is distributed to school districts? If there is a good shot of winning the case then it is not a waste Franklin Township tax payers money.
  • Dave
    Science fiction is the Orwellian, over-fed, public sector notion, that there "must be more." Imagine their panic when one day soon, they discover otherwise...
  • Science fiction radio
    "This morning it seemed as though you merely wanted to get some good sound bites and slam someone who isn’t there to defend themselves."

    Welcome to Abdul's World.One-sided commentary for his special interest groups with much misinformation and one side of the issue...HIS own. That's why we love the show. It's science fiction at it's best. Hardly believable.
  • pascal
    Kids would be better off without government meals. I am familiar with a study that focused on just what it was the kids actually ate. But, my point wasn't to boot the starving little foundlings off the public pap but to note that "administrators" have ways of goosing those numbers e.g. increase them by including kids who are not actually poverty stricken offspring of divorced parents or otherwise. Of course, one wonders how they survive the summer without meals furnished by government, regardless of the quality of said meals.
  • Fact Checker
    Pascal, once again you are off base......parents must submit verifiable info to become qualified for free lunch....and those lunches are served during the summer also....what idiot would think that poor children only need to eat during the school year.....I agree some of the lunches are not the most nutritional meals but they are better than nothing.
  • IndyAries
    "The counties may provide farms, as an asylum for those persons who, by reason of age, infirmity, or other misfortune, have claims upon the sympathies and aid of society." -- Indiana Constitution, Article 9 Section 3.

    There you have it, folks! Back 'in the day', people lived on these farms. They worked the fields, etc., IF they were able-bodied. Kids were also farmed-out for work after their school work was completed.

    Wonder why we can't get back to this? It's certainly constitutional !!
  • Think Again
    Zirk: The SFF has never, ever "unduly rewarded declining enrollment" as you state. It always has been goofy, though.

    Nick: districts are discouraging enrollment? No way!

    Most of the "better" school districts have had a pretty strict residency requirement for a long time, to discourage non-residents from taking advantage.

    As for FRL (Free & Reduced Lunch), I can tell you first-hand, there's still a stigma, and wherever you see a certain enrollment in that program, it's definitely higher.

    Fact Checker has it right: if you don't fight to keep your property development up to a certain standard, it affects all property values. When that happens, and we hit a foreclosure boondoggle like we're in now, it's a double-whammy.

    But I've driven around that district recently, and too many of the older homes look ragged. And even more Appalachian-poverty homes than I expected. Just sayin'.
  • Southsider
    A letter from the Director of Transportation was sent out to all Franklin Twp athletic coaches, choir, orchestra, band directors, vice principals and principals. The letter stated that all unfunded after school activities will not have free transportation. All athletic teams, bands, choirs, etc will have to absorb the price or come up with a flat fee for transporting these students. (I have 3 that are subject to this). According to the letter the band and choir spent $22,762.50 last year. This year between the band and choir it would cost $38,210.55. Athletics will pay $88,714.00.
    And now we've been asked to pay more property taxes 'cause they 'need the money', which raises the question....if the can't pay for the cost of transporting athletes, band/choir members (who represent the school) where's the money to pay the lawsuit????? Maybe it came from the transportation account.
    I'm tapped out!
  • zirk
    The school funding formula is much different than you describe. I used to serve on a school board and I know it sometimes leads to ridiculous results. The formula still unduly rewards declining enrollment schools which is the big source of contention right now. Growing school districts are being short changed whether they have a lot impoverished students or not. The basic formula needs to be per student with some adjustments for special needs students.
  • Nick
    Having just sent my kids back to school, I can honestly say the school districts do not see things the way you describe.

    Township school districts are actually discouraging enrollment thinking they will save money.

    My school district, along with many others I am told, implemented very strenuous proof of residency restrictions this year to re-enroll my kids in school. I was told this was to deter IPS parents from getting into the district illegally. (Perhaps to deter immigrants). The list of required documents makes the new BMV drivers license (REAL ID) requirements look weak.

    Seems like the systems should be designed to encourage schools to boost enrollment and decrease the number of truent street kids, and reach out to imigrants to teach english and integrate them into society.
  • Come_on
    It would have been nice if your show this morning stressed these points instead of using fear mongering. The only thing I kept hearing over and over was that the school board was suing the residents of the Township.

    You had several callers call in stating that they were tired of the building, i.e. stadium in FTCSC. You made no effort to enlighten them that the current school board was voted in BECAUSE of that overspending and that the current school board is doing nothing but trying to pay the bills.

    You failed to bring up that the districts have had to borrow money from the State and then pay it back with interest because of the delay in property tax funding.

    This morning it seemed as though you merely wanted to get some good sound bites and slam someone who isn’t there to defend themselves.
  • garry
    not debtors prison, it costs too much money, just put them in stocks on the town square with lots of rotten tomatoes to toss.
  • Fact Checker
    Franklin Township residents have fought apartment complexes and affordable housing homes for years. I think the chickens are coming home to roost.

    I think I must have read it wrong but was Pascal advocating denying lunch to poor hungry children............perhaps we could reestablish Debtors' prisons.
  • pascal
    Well, the State could easily respond with something these parasites (and others) would not like at all. Namely, reverse the policy that allows all kids in a school to have free lunch if a substantial minority of kids in the school qualify. Then, audit closely the claimed "poverty" numbers and toss into jail anyone caught cheating (as so many do). School lunch numbers are used as a proxy for "poverty", or used to be. It was a stigma thing. Of course, "poverty" is instant in most cases of divorce where the kids are messed up over the law profession's greed for revenues(divorce and its effects are about 30% these days?). And, clue to folks, government schools don't have any money at all other than taxpayer money, stolen at the point of a gun. So, government vs. government (like spy vs spy) is the only game they can play.
  • Think Again
    In all my years of school involvement, I've never seen a better short explanation of the SFF. Brilliant.

    The difference between Franklin and HSE in this example, is that Franklin undoubtedly has more students at risk. Their per-pupil expenditure and income ought to be higher than HSE.

    HSE lived off the fat side of the SFF for 15 years or more, when growing enrollment was much more heavily-weighted. They've got a lot of nerve using taxpayer money--mine, too (I live in that district, barely)--to fund a lawsuit.

    You're absolutely right about the lawsuit. If these school districts believe in their cause, they ought to find non-tax money to fund the lawsuit. If they prevail, which will take years, I might support a partial or full taxpayer-funded rebate for attorney fees.

    Until then, these clowns had better stop using my money to fight the system.

    And here's another thought: with school admin getting more and more complicated, why dont' some of thes ebigger districts hire in-house counsel? It'd save money in the long run. They might have to out-source portions of their legal costs, but I'd think they could save a ton and practice some preventive medicine to train folks how to avoid lawsuits and legal difficulties.
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