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Vote 411 Guide – School Board Responses

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(General programming note for blog readers in the West Lafayette school district: I am a candidate in the 2020 West Lafayette School Board election. There are four seats open, and I would like to fill one of them. If you want to know more about my campaign, ask questions, request a yard sign, please go to https://masson.us/schoolboard.)

The League of Women Voters are putting together a “Vote 411” guide for candidates. They ask a few questions, but it turns out the responses are limited to 1,000 characters. I thought I’d put the full responses here. My 411 responses have been shortened and edited a bit to fit the 1,000 character limit. (As always, if you want to know more about my school board campaign, go to http://masson.us/schoolboard.)

The questions:

Why are you running for the school board?

I’m running because I think traditional public schools are critical, not just to the students they educate but also to the communities they serve. Our kids need a world-class education so they can compete as workers, contribute as citizens, and thrive as people. The school also serves as focal point for West Lafayette that knits our community together.

I believe I have a skill set and a temperament that would make me a good Board member. I have past school board experience but have been off the board for the past four years, balancing experience with fresh perspective and energy. Additionally, I have a background in municipal law and have worked on and with community boards of various kinds which I think will assist me in contributing to the School Board.

I served on the School Board in 2015 and 2016 and have served on the West Lafayette Schools Education Foundation since 2018 (as its President since 2019). The Foundation is a non-profit corporation dedicated to supporting the mission of the schools. Among other things, it helps fund the Backpack Program, conducts alumni outreach, provides scholarship support, provides teacher grants, and has raised approximately $1.6 million in support of school capital projects.

From 2017 to the present, I have been a citizen participant on the school corporation’s policy review committee, working with current board members to conduct a decennial review of the School Corporation policies and make recommendations to the School Board on policy revisions and updates. Part of the update process was making the policies digital and searchable.

In 2017, I was also an active participant in the Friends of West Lafayette Schools effort to extend the property tax referendum, knocking on doors and educating the public on the need for the referendum and how it would impact their taxes. That effort was successful and the measure passed with resounding community support.

In 2018 and 2019, I participated on the Reimagining West Lafayette Schools Committee which made recommendations to the Board for updating the school’s strategic plan and action items for implementing that plan.

In 2019, I drafted a taxpayer petition in support of West Lafayette’s challenge to the charter school legislation that would potentially allow a charter school to acquire WLCSC’s six million dollar Happy Hollow facility for $1.

As an attorney with a practice devoted to municipal law and past employment with the General Assembly, I have a legal background that gives me experience with much of the regulatory framework in which the school operates. For example, I help the County navigate issues concerning personnel, local government finance, public record and open door law requirements, Constitutional concerns, legislative developments, and a variety of other issues. As the County Attorney, I represent a big organization with a number of elected officials who have independent decision-making authority and do not always agree. That has given me an ability to help people find common ground, and I’ve had reasonably good success at avoiding the types of personality conflicts that sometimes hinder compromise.

What in your view is the current school board doing right in its guidance of the district during the Covid 19 pandemic? What are your recommendations?

The School Board is remaining flexible and adapting to the situation as it develops. I think the school is handling COVID about as well as it can. I am the parent of two students in the West Lafayette schools. One is taking classes in-person and one is taking classes virtually. I think both of my kids have made the correct decision for themselves.

I would have preferred a steadier line of communication concerning the COVID re-opening. But, ultimately, I think the schools were in a fairly impossible situation in terms of decision making: there is a lot we don’t know about COVID, and it’s difficult to know how to properly balance the risks of COVID against such things as the impact of closing schools or limiting in-person teaching. Furthermore, the schools were at the mercy of decisions made, made slowly, changed, or not made at all by others at the federal, state, and local levels. It is my understanding that a lot of administrators, educators, and community members worked long hours coming up with a workable approach. That said, parents of students were understandably anxious and concerned about what and how decisions were being made. A consistent line of communication letting parents know more details about the planning process, and the specific challenges school decision-makers were facing might have provided reassurance and more insight into the reasons for choosing to act or not act in a certain fashion.

The COVID emergency will eventually pass, and the School Board needs to retain a broad enough focus that, while keeping the kids and the community as safe as possible from COVID, the schools retain the ability to educate students while the pandemic is ongoing and to bounce back as rapidly as possible when the threat begins to abate.

What safety and security issues should the school district be addressing?

We are fortunate enough to live in a district where the risks from external security threats are relatively low. I think our current security infrastructure is probably adequate to address those threats. There is, however, the potential for conflict arising out of interactions among students with a wide range of social, emotional, academic, and behavioral needs. I believe students can enjoy a healthier, happier, safer school experience if the school more deliberately looks to implement a multi-tiered approach to supports and interventions for the students.

In particular, I would like to see the School move forward on the part of its strategic plan which addresses establishment of a multi-tiered system of support. Tier one is directed to all students and is dedicated to creating an academically, behaviorally, and emotionally supportive school wide atmosphere. Among other things, it would consist of frequent, positive interactions that establish relationships between staff and students and build community within the school while setting clear expectations, reinforcing positive behaviors, and redirecting negative behaviors. The tier one engagements also help identify kids who might need more focused support. The additional tiers involve similar goals but with the smaller number of kids who need more attention. Tier two involves smaller groups with brief interactions designed to provide those supports, interventions, and strategies. And tier three involves individualized supports with the potential for providing help from outside third parties to those students who might need it.

By providing kids with the academic, behavioral, and emotional supports they need, preferably before conflicts arise, the likelihood of safety and security concerns decline.

If elected what are the most pressing issues you want to address during your first or next year of service?

We need to begin preparations for renewing the referendum tax rate. While the current rate will remain in effect for several more years, its preservation is critical to the health and success of our schools. We will need to analyze our use of the funds to make sure we are managing the revenue responsibly, then educate the public so it can be confident in the need for the tax rate. As part of this process, we will need to determine the proper renewal rate to request, ensure that the public question is on the ballot, and mobilize supporters to vote in favor.

I would like to see work continue on implementation of the recently adopted strategic plan. The plan has broad goals such as providing a world-class education to all students, and developing and maintaining a viable funding plan. Strategies identified for implementing those goals involve such things as reviewing the systems that have been successful in other parts of the world; implementing those aspects that are within the school’s control and lobbying the State or other entities with respect to those aspects that are outside of the school’s control. The School Corporation would also seek to identify or otherwise reduce barriers to education for low socioeconomic status, “at risk,” or other students who might face challenges that may not be well-addressed under our current system. One of the end goals is to ensure that all students at West Side consistently develop the attributes for becoming “well-rounded, ethical, innovative, creative, productive, and adaptive citizens.”

I would like to see planning for the future of Happy Hollow. The most likely use seems to be as an early childhood education center. The school needs to continue its efforts toward eliminating the risk posed by the State’s mandate that the facility be made available to a charter school operator for $1. In addition, I would urge a feasibility study that analyzes the costs of renovation, the market demand for early childhood education in West Lafayette, the benefits such a facility could provide to the community, the concerns of stakeholders, and the potential for revenue to offset the costs of renovation and providing early childhood education services.

I believe COVID will have a significant financial impact on our schools. Because of how the state budget process works, I expect that impact to be at its most acute in fiscal years 2022 and 2023. We should begin preparations for that crunch by looking for ways to maintain our cash reserves, by mobilizing the public to lobby the legislature to preserve school funding, and by looking for additional sources of revenue. When the tough choices come, we should recognize that teachers are the backbone of the school corporation and prioritize teacher retention and preserving their compensation.

West Lafayette Community School Corporation wins round in effort to protect Happy Hollow

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(General programming note for blog readers in the West Lafayette school district: I am a candidate in the 2020 West Lafayette School Board election. There are four seats open, and I would like to fill one of them. If you want to know more about my campaign, ask questions, request a yard sign, please go to https://masson.us/schoolboard.)

This is an update to a previous post which I’m just going to copy below for convenience. By way of reminder he General Assembly has adopted a law that (simplified a bit) requires a school corporation to sell its real estate to a charter school for $1 if the school corporation is not currently using the facility. West Lafayette Community School Corporation currently owns the Happy Hollow property but it is not being used for school purposes at the moment. Rather, it’s being leased to the City of West Lafayette as a city government building while West Lafayette renovates the old Morton facility. Happy Hollow has structural issues that need to be remedied which is what led to the school corporation building the new West Lafayette Intermediate School. Long-term, the plan is to renovate Happy Hollow so that it once again becomes suitable for use by WLCSC  – the current thinking is that it might be a good location for an early childhood education center. The state’s $1 charter school legislation is an impediment to long-term planning of this kind.

WLCSC filed suit in Tippecanoe County in September of 2019 challenging the law. Not long thereafter, however, it became apparent that a lawsuit filed by Lake Ridge School Corporation and School City of Hammond in Lake County, schools that had similar concerns, would be a better vehicle for the litigation challenging the law generally. WLCSC dismissed its Tippecanoe County suit and filed a motion to intervene in Lake County (45D05-2001-PL-2). The State filed a motion to dismiss very similar to the one it had filed in Tippecanoe County, arguing primarily that the issue was not “ripe” for adjudication (because no charter school was yet actively seeking to purchase one of the affected properties) and also arguing — somewhat breathtakingly — that the State has no obligation at all to pay for property it takes from local government. For reasons I explained more in the previous post, I think the State does have to compensate local government if it takes local government property. I’m also of the opinion that this law would violate Art. 10, §1 of the Indiana Constitution which provides requires the General Assembly provide a “uniform and equal rate of property assessment and taxation.” Happy Hollow was paid for by property taxes that were not “uniform” to those that you would find in, say, unincorporated Tippecanoe County. That non-uniform taxation is appropriate insofar as it is used to benefit the school district. It is inappropriate to use taxes peculiar to the District to benefit the State at large.  See City of Richmond v. Scott, 48 Ind. 568, 572-73 (Ind. 1874) (determining that unequal rates of municipal taxation do not violate Art. 10, §1 because “taxes for corporate purposes cannot be equal. The wants and necessities of towns and cities cannot be equal. Some require a higher and some a lower rate of taxation.)

While not necessarily reaching the substance of these arguments; yesterday, the Lake County Superior Court gave the first round to the schools – determining that West Lafayette would be permitted to intervene (i.e. participate in the case) and that the State’s motion to dismiss would be denied. That means the parties can proceed with discovery, summary judgment arguments, and, if necessary, trial. This wouldn’t seem to be the type of case where trial is likely to be necessary because the relevant facts shouldn’t be in much dispute. The contested issues will be issues of law — e.g. whether the State is required to compensate local government for takings and, if so, whether the law making the property subject to purchase for a dollar by a charter school amounts to a compensable taking. Issues of law are decided by the Court. The trial court’s decision will not be the final word. However the trial court rules, somebody will almost certainly appeal.

I’m obviously pulling for WLCSC. Even putting my local loyalties aside, the way the State has handled charter schools has undermined public education in Indiana. As I’ve said before, there is some evidence (out of Massachusetts mostly) that properly regulated charter schools can do some good. But the Indiana General Assembly is decidedly uninterested in any sort of rigorous regulation of charter schools.

(Earlier post follows).

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State of Indiana Claims Right to Take Local Government Property Without Compensation

 

Our Price: $1.00
Cheap!

West Lafayette Community School Corporation has sued Governor Holcomb in his official capacity (Cause 79C01-1909-PL-115 in the Circuit Court of Tippecanoe County) to challenge a law that requires local school corporations to make unused buildings available to charter schools for a dollar before they can sell them, leave them vacant, or (the law is less clear) lease them for non-school purposes. West Lafayette has an old building, Happy Hollow, that’s on its last legs and the school corporation has long term plans to use the site, likely as an early education facility, once it gets a solid model put together and can line up the proper funding. In the meantime, it’s being leased to the City of West Lafayette as a temporary city hall for which the City is paying the School a healthy lease payment which, in turn, is being used to fund School operations.

Earlier this year, the General Assembly passed HB 1641 which added IC 20-26-7.1 featuring the $1 lease/purchase requirements. (If a school sells real estate in violation of this requirement, proceeds from the sale go to the State to fund charter school grants). In the case of Happy Hollow, the school corporation arguably has to forego a revenue stream from the City lease or put long term plans on hold if a charter school expresses interest and an intent to get a charter school up and running in the next two years.

So that’s the background. Being a strong proponent of local government and of public schools, it will come as no surprise to anyone that I take the school’s side on this one. But that’s not what prompted me to write this.

In defending the lawsuit, Governor Holcomb (by counsel) has made the breathtaking argument:

“[T]he Takings Clauses and Just Compensation do not apply to the State’s relationship with political subdivisions.”

“[M]unicipalities and subdivisions of the State cannot request just compensation even if there is taking[.]”

The State’s argument does not offer any limitation to this principle which is unique to schools. The State can take local government property and not pay for it. Full stop. The argument is that local government is merely a “subalternate instrumentality” of the State government — in other words, local government is just a tool of State government, so there’s really been no loss if the State commandeers local property for its own purposes.

There is an old United States Supreme Court case, Board of Commissioners of Tippecanoe County v. Lucas, 93 U.S. 108 (1876) where the Court said, “the legislature of a state possesses the power to direct a restitution to taxpayers of a county or other municipal corporation of property exacted from them by taxation, into whatever form the property may be changed, so long as it remains in possession of the municipality.” (emphasis added) It’s true that the State has a lot of power to direct the affairs of local government. So, if the State said that the school had to sell vacant property at market value and, for example, use the proceeds to buy school buses for itself, the “taking” argument would be much weaker. Yes, the State is meddling in local affairs, but taxes paid by local residents are not being diverted to other entities.

But that’s not the argument the Governor is making. Local government property can be used for any purpose the State wants. It doesn’t matter if taxpayers supported a local tax rate precisely because decisions about the use of those taxes were being made by the city council or school board. This goes well beyond taking local school property to subsidize charters. In principle, it could be used to sell off the Wayne County Courthouse in Richmond and use it to subsidize toll road operations in northern Indiana. Or whatever. Like I said, the argument doesn’t offer any limiting principle to the State’s authority to seize local government property without paying for it.

Now, if I had to guess, this is probably the case of an attorney operating out of Indianapolis trying to grind out a win without having run the argument past any political types. I highly doubt that Gov. Holcomb knows anything about this argument even though it’s being made in his name. I suspect the political types would understand that an assertion by the State of unfettered control over local resources is unlikely to be well received outside of the State House.