The Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board will soon receive an administration recommendation on how to handle building and debt issues, based on views board members expressed at a Monday morning work session.

Board members appeared to favor the construction of a new elementary school to reduce or eliminate the need for portable classrooms, which are being used this school year to reduce class sizes.  There are currently 30 portable classrooms in use throughout the school district in grades kindergarten through 4th grade (K-4)

The demographic study just competed by Dr. Jerome McKibben shows an overall 1% decrease in the K-4 enrollment throughout the school district from 2016 through 2021. However, some elementary schools would gain students during that time, based on the current number of buildings and district lines.  For example, for 2016-2021, Thorpe Creek would gain 140 students, an 18% increase, while Sand Creek Elementary would lose 93 pupils, a 14.5% decrease.

Board members said they want a new elementary school constructed, keeping an eye on funds needed for maintenance and looking at expansion of the HSE Administration Building, which cannot handle all administrators in one building at this time.  The board wants all this done while keeping the school system’s debt tax rate steady.

HSE Chief Financial Officer Mike Reuter reviewed details on the school corporations’s debt structure, indicating some debt will be expiring in coming years, allowing new debt to be issued without major impact to the debt tax rate.

Some construction could be phased-in over several years.  Expanding one or more current elementary buildings may also be an option on the table.

Voters approved a tax referendum to construct a new elementary building years ago, but that school has never been built.  The school board could choose to utilize that authority to build the new elementary.

School administrators plan to present a recommendation to the board on how to move forward in the coming weeks.