PORTAGE | Community pledges and a legislative study group looking into long-term funding issues this summer could sustain the Portage Adult Education program another year and beyond.
Portage Township Schools Superintendent Mike Berta told School Board members the Legacy Foundation in Lake County has agreed to support the program with $60,000 over the next two years and the Crown Point Community Fund has offered $10,000 to keep it afloat in the next academic year. Berta said he also met with members of the Lake and Porter county councils last week, and said with a $40,000 nest egg from the community organizations, he's hopeful the councils will consider filling in the funding gap.
The fix is temporary, Berta said, while the district awaits the results of a summer study group authorized by the Indiana General Assembly and charged to look into a long-term solution to the funding challenges adult education programs face across the state.
Portage's program, which serves students in Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton, Jasper and Starke counties through satellite branches, routinely operates with a deficit near $100,000. In years past, Portage funded the deficit, with those dollars coming out of the district's general fund. Those funds are intended to educate the district's school-age children.
In November, the district passed a resolution to cease administration of the program effective June 30, unless a long-term funding solution is found. Berta said the decision to accept community contributions and rescind the resolution would be up to the board. President Terry Hufford said he's confident the board would do so if proper funding was in place.
Board member Tom Pappas said getting the state to realize there's a problem is a major milestone.
"I've been fighting this issue for seven years, and we finally got the state to study the issue of adult education funding," Pappas said, adding that by enabling students to achieve and earn more, the program has given additional dollars to income and property tax coffers.
If the community-based contributions are approved, it would be the second consecutive year such funds kept the program afloat.
Last year, Discovery Alliance, a literary coalition of four Northwest Indiana community foundations, contributed $100,000 to keep the program running, with another $10,000 coming from the Center for Workforce Innovations.
