South Putnam investigating impact of Senate Bill 1

With the General Assembly session in the rearview mirror and the 2024-25 school year winding down, South Putnam Community School Corporation Superintendent Dr. Corey Smith is waiting to see the impact his district will feel with property tax relief coming to citizens. 

Smith knows property tax relief will have an impact on his district, but what he is unsure of is how deep the cuts will be. 

"We are continuing to investigate the legislation's intricacies to determine its impact on South Putnam Schools," Smith told The Putnam County Post.

Smith admitted that in addition to his research and insight, the district is seeking input from industry experts and consultants with the hope of gaining a better understanding.

"We are seeking input from industry experts and consultants to decipher some of the short and long term impacts on our funding structures for the three major buckets: education, operations and debt service funds. I hope to gather more details as impact studies and updated budget runs become available in the coming weeks," Smith said. 

While many districts may look to pull back on staff and programs offered, Smith said such is not the case for the Eagles.

"Not at this time," Smith responded when asked if he foresaw having to make cuts. 

While the waiting game is taking place on the Senate Bill 1 fallout, Smith and the district are also playing a waiting game on seeing a fieldhouse project come to life at South Putnam. 

Despite a wet spring, Smith said all projects are "tracking on time."

"We will have steel arriving for the fieldhouse next week and that will be erected asap. Also, the Central Elementary parking lot project will start the day after Memorial Day. Several other things are coming over the summer as well. I can't say enough about Michael Kinder and Sons, our construction management firm overseeing our projects. They have worked hard to ensure the projects have minimal setbacks or interruptions. It is exciting that despite all the weather this spring and even through the winter, the projects remain on schedule," Smith said.