Jennings County School Corporation district staff told the school board at a regular meeting that an ongoing drop in student enrollment and recent changes to state and federal funding will reduce local school revenue and require further cost containment.

District staff member Nikki summarized the district's review and its next steps: the board will host a public work session on July 24 at 6 p.m. where policy analyst Barry Gardner will present local projections of the changes announced by the state.

The issue matters because student enrollment drives the largest state funding stream for the district. Nikki said the corporation identified about a 10-year decline of roughly 1,000 students and concluded that staffing had to be right-sized. "We determined that we had 35 positions that needed to be absorbed for the 2025-26 school year," Nikki said, and the district was able to reassign 31 employees into open positions through natural attrition, producing an estimated reduction of about $1.7 million.

Nikki told the board that additional pressures are coming from state and federal changes. She said the district expects "estimated losses of over a billion dollars in the next 3 years in property tax revenue with Senate Bill 1," that local income-tax support for schools will end in 2028, and that a federal grant freeze has cut roughly $250,000 in anticipated federal funds for Jennings County schools. Nikki described the presentation by Barry Gardner as "the first step in wrapping our minds around what this new regulation looks like."

Board members and staff framed the work session as an opportunity for the public to see the modeling and ask questions. The presentation will be live streamed and recorded, Nikki said.

No formal board action was taken at the meeting on the cost-containment topic; the item was presented for information and for planning next steps.

Less-critical details: Nikki said staffing accounts for about 85% of the district budget and that the district worked with a demographer to verify that the enrollment decline was not a short-term fluctuation. The board encouraged staff to publicize the July 24 work session so community members understand the changes and potential future decisions.