Greencastle Schools prepared for SB 1 fallout

Greencastle Community Schools Superintendent Jeff Gibboney needs no reminders of how tough it is to operate a school district.

From ensuring the needs of staff and students are taken care of, to making sure there is enough money to do projects and maintain programs, Gibboney is aware of all that goes into running the Greencastle Community School Corporation. 

It's one reason why he is cautiously optimistic his district will be okay when facing potential challenges from Senate Bill 1, which will bring property tax relief to residents and could mean less money for his district.

"It's my job to protect dollars and keep them in the classroom. Fortunately, we have been fiscally conservative over time and we have some decent cash balances to help us navigate the change. It is going to have some impact. It is going to impact our ability to tackle deferred maintenance to our facilities and buildings. We are still trying to calculate final impact. With the way assessed value will now be and the phasing out of the homestead deduction, it will now be a lot different," Gibboney told The Putnam County Post.

Gibboney did acknowledge his district will take quite a hit in the future. 

"Our impact on our property tax related funds, which are operations and debt service, will be estimated to be between three and five hundred thousand a year and that is getting worse over time. To be honest, one of the other areas we will have to navigate is our school district receives local income tax dollars and the amount we will begin to lose in 2028 is roughly $316 thousand. We have a lot to navigate and tackle," Gibboney said.

As a way to get out in front of any potential problems, Gibboney said he has been having internal conversations with his team and looking at where and how the district can be even more fiscally conservative with spending.  

"We are scrutinizing every expenditure, talking through staffing items and looking at our building and project related needs and seeing what can we push out and what needs tackled right away. We are trying to be good stewards of the finances because whether we like or not, it is going to happen and now we are working to develop a plan to address it. I don't feel like we are in bad of a situation as some school districts might be because we have some cash balances that we can rely on over time," Gibboney said. 

While the future may be rough, Gibboney maintains he will continue to do everything to keep programs and people in his buildings. 

"I don't think we are into people and programs. It is my job to protect all the wonderful things we have put into place over the years. We are going to look at other areas first. We have made good decisions over the years and may not be in another situation like others where we have to look to cut. We may have to absorb roles if we have a staff member leave, but we will look to be efficient and conservative with those things," Gibboney said.