SCOTT COUNTY, Ind. (WDRB) -- The Scott County School District 2 is grappling with a severe financial crisis, one that has resulted in the loss of students, teachers, and programs.
The district is still a long way from recovering a $4 million deficit—and the road to recovery is far from clear.
In March, the district’s financial troubles became publicly known when the district's chief financial officer was forced to resign after a shocking revelation: $4.3 million in district funds had gone unaccounted for. This discovery prompted an immediate and urgent response from the district’s leadership.
In the wake of this, the school board developed a recovery plan—one that, unfortunately, has meant painful cuts to essential services.
To stabilize the district’s finances, the recovery plan has relied on drastic cost-cutting measures.
“We’ve come a long way, but we’ve probably only cut the deficit in half, ballpark figure,” Superintendent Dr. Marc Slaton said.
The district has absorbed vacant positions rather than filling them, combined roles where possible, and instituted a spending freeze to curb unnecessary expenditures. Despite these efforts, the cuts have had a severe impact on the district’s most vulnerable students.
One of the hardest-hit areas has been student services. Programs that many low-income families rely on have been severely reduced. For example:
- There have been drastic reductions to pre-K classes.
“Pre-K was grossly overstaffed with very little additional revenue coming in during 2023-2024," Slaton said Wednesday. "Thus, we were having to cover those costs through our education fund which already had its own payroll challenges.”
However, special education classes have so far been spared from cuts, though many students in these programs have been forced to leave the district in search of alternative services.
The district’s funding is heavily reliant on student enrollment, and as enrollment numbers have dropped, so too has the funding from the state.
In November, the district faced a devastating loss of $125,000 in expected tuition. And it doesn’t stop there—another $125,000 is expected to be lost in the coming weeks. In total, the district has seen a quarter-million-dollar loss over just two months, exacerbating the already precarious financial situation.
At the most recent school board meeting, the board authorized the sale of real estate in an attempt to alleviate the deficit. The property went on the market immediately, and while there’s hope that the sale will make a dent in the district’s financial struggles, the long-term picture remains unclear.
Questions remain about how the district found itself in such financial turmoil. The cause of the overspending—totaling more than $4 million—has not yet been fully explained.
In an effort to get to the bottom of the financial crisis, the State Board of Accounts is scheduled to audit the district’s books in the spring.
Despite the uncertainty, the district’s leadership remains focused on the students. As Superintendent Dr. Marc Slaton stated, "The decisions we make now are all about what’s best for our kids." The focus is on managing the crisis in a way that minimizes further disruption to student learning, even as financial challenges persist.
As Scott County School District continues its struggle to recover from the crisis, the next few months will be crucial. How the district navigates this financial turmoil will have lasting impacts on its students, staff and community.
Previous Coverage:
- Southern Indiana school board making budget cuts to make up for $4.3 million it overspent
- Scott County school board makes cuts to pre-K program in effort to save money
- Southern Indiana school board fires CFO over alleged mismanagement of district funds
- Investigators monitoring finances of southern Indiana school district that 'overspent' $5 million
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