Warsaw avoids impact of state Pre-K cuts, adusts to new budget realities
This post was provided by News Now Warsaw
By Dan Spalding
News Now Warsaw
WARSAW — Warsaw Community Schools Corporation has avoided recent state cuts involving a Pre-K funding program.
Thousands of Indiana families will find it harder to access state-funded preschool next year as the state makes drastic cuts to its On My Way Pre-K program.
The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) announced that enrollment in On My Way Pre-K program will be capped at just 2,500 students statewide – sharp decrease from the more than 6,000 children who were enrolled previously.
That won’t have an impact with Warsaw Schools, though.
That’s because the district relies on other arrangements, according to Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert.
Public-private partnerships with Cardinal Services and the Greater Warsaw Cooperative Preschool have helped provide an early start to some 250 pre-K students.
“We know that as a school system, we want to be actively involved in pre-school education, but we also have to be efficient and allocate the dollars to where it is going. That’s the reason we’ve created the programs that we have.”
Hoffert made the comments during a taping of In The Know, the public affairs show you can hear this weekend on Kensington Digital Media radio stations.
He said the state legislature’s attempts to keep K-12 education funding “whole” and not make similar cuts seen in many other areas, the reduction in the Pre-K funding is essentially “collateral damage that comes from balancing the budget.”
Hoffert acknowledges that belt-tightening at the state and federal levels have changed their approach and agrees, for now, it’s become the new normal.
He said one overriding theme for next year is finding efficiencies.
“It’s going to be looking at: “What are positions that we might not have to replace in the future … and how can we do a little more with less? That’s the challenge the state has given us,” Hoffert said.
Hoffert also took time during the interview to recognize Chief Financial Officer April Fitterling, who recently announced her resignation.
Fitterling has worked for WCS for 11 years and is joining Policy Analytics LLC, Indianapolis, which builds data-driven tools and processes that help bring clarity to complex issues for school leaders, according to a report by the Times-Union.
“She is staying in the community, but she got offered a wonderful position with a consulting firm, and it’s a big credit to her and what Warsaw Community Schools has been able to accomplish financially,” Hoffert said.
“April has done a wonderful job. It will be big shoes to fill. We are in the interview process right now, and we hope to have somebody named by July 1,” he said.
Editor’s note: Network Indiana contributed to this report.
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