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GREENWOOD REFERENDUM PASSED, NOW WHAT?
Thursday, April 21st, 2005 -- 2:13 pm
Posted by Riley Hebert-News Director
It has been a couple weeks since voters in the Greenwood school district passed a 5-year, $500,000 revenue cap exemption referendum, but the district’s long-term future remains unclear.
Superintendent John Eitenmiller says the board met last week and talked about future plans; those plans will likely include a consolidation feasibility study that should be complete by the end of the next school year.
"There was a discussion with Loyal about bringing in an independent auditor to look at our curriculum and (other things)," Eitenmiller said, adding the auditor could determine what savings could be found through consolidation.
At their meeting in May, the board will likely create a committee to look at consolidation-related topics and move toward the third-party study.
After a very cordial meeting between the Loyal and Greenwood boards in February, some Loyal school board members have expressed disappointment that Greenwood moved forward with a 5-year referendum, instead of a 3-year referendum.
Some told WCCN they felt it showed Greenwood wasn’t serious about consolidation.
"There are some hurt feelings," Eitenmiller admits, "I'm going to try to mend those fences."
How much time does this referendum buy? Could the school stay open forever? Those questions remain unanswered. But Eitenmiller wants everyone in Greenwood to know that the referendum doesn’t fix the structural problem the district faces with declining enrollment and revenue caps.
The extra money should allow the board to get away from deficit spending, but it doesn’t look like it will allow them to store money away.
"If we save any money, it will be a minimal amount," Eitenmiller says, "With our declining enrollment and costs going up - if we don't do something, we will be right back in the same situation we were looking at last year."
"If not, you'll be talking to the adminstrator and asking 'what are you going to do about these budget cuts?', because that's exactly where we're going to be."
The school will also use a good chunk of the extra $500,000 to fix an old roof – that could cost up to $300,000.
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