Retired state Sen. Earline Rogers is the choice of Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson to serve on a fiscal management board tasked with assisting a state emergency manager in turning around the struggling Gary Community School Corp.
The yet-to-be-named emergency manager will have fiscal and academic responsibility over the school district that’s mired in more than $100 million of debt and is challenged by a shrinking enrollment base.
A veteran legislator, Rogers is also a retired Gary teacher and mentor of her successor, state Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Merrillville, who co-sponsored the takeover legislation signed by Gov. Eric Holcomb last week.
“She’s been following process from the beginning,” Freeman-Wilson said.
“It’s important to have someone who understands the DUAB (Distressed Unit Appeals Board), Gary Community School Corp. and the challenges and need to balance it with fiscal accountability. She’s someone who has the students at the top of her mind. She meets all of those criteria.
“I think she’ll do a great job.”
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Rogers’ appointment is the first of four on the advisory board. The Gary School Board has an appointee and the state has two appointees. Each member will serve a four-year term, which starts when the person is appointed. The appointees do not receive a salary. Members of the school board are not eligible to serve on the advisory board.
School Board President Rosie Washington said Wednesday that the school board does not have a candidate yet for the fiscal management board. It’s considering putting out a public notice for qualified candidates to come forward, like it does for other government entities such as the library board.
She said they would prefer to have an appointee with Northwest Indiana roots, who can look at the historic picture of how Gary got to its current state.
“We really need someone who can relate to the… picture of where we are and how we got here,” Washington said.
Rogers said Wednesday she felt she was a good fit because of her experience as a state lawmaker who served on the Senate education committee and as a Gary teacher.
“I’ve been involved as we tried to get Senate Bill 567 through the legislature and I went down and testified before the House Ways and Means committee. I’ve kept up with the progress of the bill,” said Rogers in reference to the takeover legislation.
The school district has functioned for nearly two years with an emergency manager, Jack Martin, selected by the school board from a list provided by the state.
Martin and the board often butted heads over budget cuts that impacted staff and programs.
Rogers said one of the stumbling blocks of the relationship was the school board’s top priority was academics, while Martin’s was fiscal management.
The DUAB is tentatively expected to meet with local lawmakers, and the school board on May 15 to detail the takeover process.
Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Twitter: @meredithcolias
@ccwriterPT