SW Parke Community Schools looking at Revision Project

Months after asking residents to approve a new auxiliary gymnasium on a referendum, officials with Southwest Parke Community School Corporation are considering closing two elementary schools as part of a revision project. 

Superintendent Dr. Phil Harrison said the state of his district is an "unusual dichotomy." 

"We are a small, rural district. We have the lowest assessed value for property in our athletic conference. We have one of the lowest maximum operating levies in our region. If you look at our athletic conference, we are the third largest operating levy. Those two things are not established by us. They are established by the state by all their fun calculations. You have this small, rural district that has low property value, low operating level and yet, we have built this fantastic academic and athletic culture," Harrison told The Parke County Post.

Harrison said there are several things outside the district's control that has not helped.  

"We have seen several mandates come from the state regarding salaries, benefits, and wages that have hurt us. Then we have Senate Enrolled Act 1, and the early projections were we would feel some pain, but we didn't know how much pain we would feel early on that," Harrison said. 

Harrison said he has heard from residents, who have asked why if the district had issues did they pursue an auxiliary gymnasium last year. 

"Here is the issue with the auxiliary gym. For years and years and years, community members came to the board and said they would love to have an auxiliary gym and thought it was important for students and the community. The board studied it, and for years, there was no way we could financially do it. In 2024, the board once again received requests and pursued a study. The financial analysis said we could do it within our bond capacity, and the board moved forward with pursuing that. The community filed the petitions and wanted to go to a referendum. In May 2025, the community voted it down, and the board said, okay, that is fine. At the same time that was going on, you had the rise of Senate Enrolled Act 1. There is a perception that we were in bad shape and it was bad of us to move forward with that study. But, when we started those studies, there was no indication of what would happen with Senate Enrolled Act 1 and the board did its due diligence for the community," Harrison said. 

Harrison said analysis showed his district would lose over $350 thousand as a result of Senate Enrolled Act 1 over the next three years. However, he said officials quickly found out his district would no longer be able to use the local income tax after 2028. 

"Here we are today, looking at the future of our school district. We stand to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue. We have an incredible cause for concern," Harrison said. 

As for how his district can sustain, Harrison said there are several options available for Southwest Parke Community Schools. 

"You look at all your operational expenses, and currently, we operate three campuses. You look at schools your size and the campus models they are operating, and you see schools with 900-1,000 students with fewer campuses. We currently operate two elementary and one 7-12 building. The question we have to ask is can that sustain with the operations budget we have. What do we do? We look at all options," Harrison said. 

Harrison said saving money operationally is of the utmost importance.

"We are in an interesting situation where we have to make some significant changes and significant decisions quickly if we want to maintain some level of viability," Harrison said. 

Harrison, the school board and other district officials recently wrapped up a week long meeting tour, going to district schools to hear from residents about their concerns and what they want. 

"We are trying not to be overly gloom and doom, but this is the reality. It is a math problem, and when a significant amount of your funding is impacted, we have to figure out how to reduce a significant amount of our spending," Harrison said. 

Harrison said over the last decade his district has lost students, which also impacts funding, and, as a result, the district is looking at a $1 million to $1.5 million shortfall. 

"It looks like our decline will continue. Everyone wants to know why we are losing students, but it looks like there are fewer babies being born, and in a rural community like ours, there are even less. Parke County in the last 20 years has lost between 15 and 30 percent of its school aged children. People are having fewer kids, and that impacts what we do considerably," Harrison said. 

In Harrison's eyes, the only way to maintain viability is to go to one campus model. Harrison said one campus equates to fewer dollars to operate. 

"Our vision is pretty clear. The grand vision is let's bring everyone to one campus as soon as we can. If we can get everyone on one campus and maximize the facilities we have, then we can, potentially, maintain viability. I say potentially because the legislators are still at work, and I cannot guarantee that one of the legislators cannot make a bill that won't impact us. We know what they do in Indianapolis does trickle over to Southwest Parke," Harrison said. 

The veteran educator said he wants to hear from residents and has already heard quite a bit.

"We have heard everything. We have been asked if there is a way to move students around, reduce the number of facilities we are currently operating. Some have asked if there has been a consideration for county wide consolidation. Right now, everything is on the table and we are taking every suggestion and evaluating where we think we need to land. We want to provide the best level of education for our students, but we are going to do it in the most fiscally sound way possible and we would love to be a viable, independent district for as long as possible," Harrison said. 

Residents will have an opportunity to have their voice heard on Jan. 27, as the school board will hold a special informational meeting at Riverton Parke High School at 7 p.m.

"There are thousands of school districts across the country looking at the same thing. I am concerned based upon what I am seeing and the physical action that is taking place is not favorable to small districts. We are going to educate kids regardless and give them everything we've got. I want to keep as many teachers and facilities as possible. It is not my personal desire to cut people or close buildings, but we need to consider all potential options to maintain viability under the new constraints. If we are wise in what we do, we can still provide kids with a quality education with quality educators," Harrison said.