Sen. Linda Rogers’ bill to replace South Bend Community Schools’ elected board with one appointed by the state received its first hearing Wednesday at the Statehouse. The bill drew overwhelmingly negative testimony and Rogers vowed to make major changes.
During a hearing in the Senate Education and Career Development Committee, Rogers declined to reveal what those changes might be but it seemed they could be substantial, to the point that it wasn’t clear what could be left of the bill.
Take this exchange with committee member Andrea Hunley, a Democrat from Indianapolis.
”I’m wondering," Hunley said, "do you plan to keep authority of who is on the governing body, resting that with the Secretary of Education? The state?”
“At this point I have not determined the next direction," Rogers said. "I’m hearing from a lot of people. It is probably unlikely but I’m not going to say for sure.”
Hunley: “Obviously I think the world of our current Secretary of Education but we also know that that is an appointed position, not an elected position so I do think that if we were to have appointed boards, it’s very important that authority and oversight of that board rest with at least someone who is elected.”
So that begged the question, if the state education secretary wouldn’t appoint the board members, what would even be left of the bill?
But Rogers went even further. She said if the education secretary does remain in the bill, she’s also open to changes in her proposed nine-member nominating commission that would send the secretary board candidates for approval. That concession came when Hunley said she was also troubled by the special interest groups who would receive spots on the nominating commission.
“I was surprised to see such specificity on where folks would be coming from," Hunley said. "For example, one member of the Community Foundation, one member of the Education Alliance, one member of the South Bend-Elkhart Regional Partnership, one member of the home builders, one member of the Realtors, and I’m wondering just your thoughts around why it was important to call out these specific organizations? Instead of just having the mayor, for example, appoint folks, why does it feel important that, what I see is the business community, having an outsized impact?”
Rogers, a longtime home builder, defended the proposed commission makeup but then said it will change.
“You think about Realtors, they have people coming into the community," Rogers said. "They hear from prospective clients. Home builders, I happen to sit into the Construction Roundtable and hear about the job openings that we have. We’re in a housing crisis and prices of homes have gone way up. Part of the reason is no one’s going into the housing industry. So since this has been published, I’ve heard from a lot of people so if any way the legislation moves with the nominating commission, it will not be the same ones, and I’m open to any suggestions that you may have.”
Until Wednesday South Bend Regional Chamber President Jeff Rea had been the most vocal supporter of the bill, and of the many people who testified, he was the only one who spoke in support.
Rea said his job is to attract employers to the community and they want well-educated workers.
”First they want to know, can we find the workers that they need today, and two, are you building the pipeline of workers that we need tomorrow?" Rea said. "And it’s that pipeline that’s really caught our attention. So as we think of the statistics, don’t show very well for us when we’re showing for outside the community.
"When we look at IREAD, ILEARN, chronic absenteeism, declining enrollment, we don’t stack up very well. That influences business decisions to come to the area and really touches every piece of our economy. If they don’t come here, they don’t buy houses in our neighborhoods, they don’t send kids to our schools, it really has this domino effect.”
Rogers said she’s had productive talks with South Bend Superintendent Mansour Eid, teachers union president Linda Lucy and school board attorney Pete Agostino. All three testified that the corporation is moving in the right direction under Eid, after many problems that developed under his predecessor Todd Cummings and the former board.
Rogers, who sits on the committee, said she initially expected to vote on the bill next Wednesday but learned at the last minute that it must also go through the Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee. So the education committee will vote on it as it is Thursday morning, but then in the tax committee she’ll propose changes based on input from critics.
”I’m committed to doing that and I think those of you that know me know I follow up on what I say I'm going to do," Rogers said. "So the question to the committee members and the South Bend community is do you want to do the same thing over and over again, or do you want to be part of the solution in helping to turn South Bend schools around?”
But Eid said that turnaround is well underway. Since taking over for Cummings in February, he said through “operational reform,” the corporation unlocked $15 million in “existing liquidity” and used it to give teachers a $9,000 pay raise, moving them from 203rd ranked in the state to the top 10.
Eid said the corporation also tackled transportation, replacing leadership, improving bus routes and giving drivers a raise, which has improved student attendance. In 2024 they had 19 days over 90% attendance, compared to 54 days over 92% attendance so far this school year. And he said a partnership with a University of Notre Dame tutoring program has helped boost passing IREAD scores from 52% to 71%
”The South Bend of today is not the South Bend of years past," he said, "and our trajectory today is unmistakably upward.”
