GUEST COMMENTARY: Valpo must take immediate action

I have attended the last two board meetings held by the Valparaiso Community School Board. As a parent of two children who attend Valparaiso schools, as a former Valparaiso administrator, and as a current school superintendent, I feel there has been way too much finger-pointing and too little problem-solving.

Yes, mistakes were made and people have a valid reason to be upset; however, a continuance will not solve problems only expand division.

The board and administration have stepped forward and admitted mistakes. Superintendent Andrew Melin and the board have stood up in front of the community to answer questions and openly take brutal criticism. Now is the time for the administration, board, teachers and community to work together to develop an immediate positive solution on behalf of the students of Valparaiso.

The truth of the matter is Melin did not create the financial mess and did not enact the legislation that has resulted in the defunding of public education in Indiana, nor did he eliminate the local responsibility of school general funds and transfer the complete responsibility of school general funds to the state, at a time when the Indiana General Assembly leaders were warned that Indiana revenue was about to drop. =Melin did not create the circuit breaker, did not pass the tax caps, and did not cut $300 million approved money to schools that was actually there.

In 2007, Larry DeBoer, an economist from Purdue University, warned legislative leaders, the Governor, and community leaders, that they were transferring the fiscal responsibility of education from a semi-stable funding mechanism to a completely unstable funding mechanism.

Somewhere, somehow, the board, the administration, the teachers, the community and the local political leaders, all collectively failed to understand the severe negative impact that the last five years of Indiana General Assembly laws and funding formula changes would have on Valparaiso Community Schools, the students and the community.

We have chosen local representatives to represent our communities in Indianapolis, and those leaders have capped our local ability to raise funds for our communities, while at the same time raising our individual tax contributions to the state.

The window of opportunity for the community to be given a choice through a referendum is abruptly closing. A decision must be made and action taken within days; otherwise, there is only one solution, and that solution will have a negative impact on Valparaiso students and the community. Drastic cuts will be devastating, and a long history of a successful school corporation will end.

Steven Disney is superintendent of Oregon-Davis School Corporation in Hamlet. The opinion expressed in this column is the writer's and not necessarily that of The Times.