DOUG ROSS: With taxes, actions still have consequences

This has been a big week for the convergence of taxes and politics — are those two ever separated? — in Northwest Indiana.

Lake Ridge Schools business manager resigns

GARY | The Lake Ridge Schools business manager James Huddleston has resigned, school officials announced Friday.

EDITORIAL: Restore money cut from Indiana schools

Policy decisions made, even with the best of intentions, should be scrapped when it becomes clear they aren't achieving -- and are possibly worsening -- the very thing they set out to fix.

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD: Government cooperation is heartening in Lansing

First and foremost, I want to wish you, your family members and friends a very happy new year. May 2013 be joyous and good to you.

Schools to try again to be removed from TIF district

PORTAGE | Portage Township Schools will try again to carve itself out of the city's tax increment financing district.

Company might lay off 85 Gary school bus drivers as routes streamlined

GARY | Illinois Central School Bus LLC could layoff between 80 and 85 employees in Gary as a result of a reduction of routes serving the Gary Community School Corp., a company representative said Monday.

Frataccia named Portage Twp. Schools superintendent

PORTAGE | E. Ric Frataccia, Portage Township Schools' associate superintendent, will steer the district as the interim superintendent.

EDITORIAL: Intervention beats government bankruptcy

Indiana state Sen. Ed Charbonneau's legislation to allow local governments, including school districts, to seek emergency state assistance with making ends meet should be approved.

DOUG ROSS: Give parents guidance on new school choices

The Indiana Department of Education is working feverishly to write the rules for how parents will apply for school vouchers. When that's done, I hope it will work on providing parents some guidance on school choice.

EDITORIAL: School consolidation is a good start

Voters in LaPorte County's Cass Township face a decision that they haven't encountered in quite some time -- whether to approve a school district consolidation.

No special polling places for C.P. school referendum

CROWN POINT | Voters will be going to their accustomed polling places May 3 to cast a ballot on a referendum that would grant a tax raise for Crown Point Community School Corp.

D.158 board objects to consolidation

LANSING | The Lansing Elementary District 158 School Board approved a resolution this week objecting to a proposal in Springfield to consolidate school districts.

Abolish all Illinois public school districts? Not yet

SPRINGFIELD | Some lawmakers in Springfield got an earful in recent days from school board members and superintendents opposing proposed legislation that could jeopardize their jobs.

Drivers ed costs once again issue at Statehouse

SPRINGFIELD | Schools soon may get a lot more control over the cost, and makeup, of their driver's education classes.

Teacher pension costs could shift to local districts

SPRINGFIELD | Local school districts could get hit with a multimillion dollar bill under a pension cost-shifting plan being floated by a top state Democrat.

Illinois school boss: We need consolidation

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. | Illinois Superintendent of Education Chris Koch says the state needs to consolidate school districts, a move that could save millions of dollars.

I fixed an election, in a sense

When the Cass Township Board and Dewey Prairie Consolidated School Corp. board met Monday night to form the new Tri-Township Consolidated School Corp., I had a hand, however minor, in the formation.

The birth of a school district

Cass Township is unique in Northwest Indiana. Nowhere else does the township government still run the school. Not only that, but Wanatah School is K-8. High school students must leave the township to find a high school that will accept them.

Cass Township goes courting

Cass Township officials plan to go courting, which is why tonight's Cass Township Board meeting will matter to residents in the East Porter County, South Central and Dewey-Prairie school districts. One of those three could end up merging with Cass Township.

Masons remove old school cornerstone

LOWELL | The sound of a jackhammer cut through the frigid air early Saturday morning as volunteers from the local Masonic lodge worked to remove the cornerstone from the old Lowell Middle School.