In this Dec. 2021 file photo, students crowd the hallway during a passing period at Franklin Community Middle School. Leaders at Franklin Community School Corporation expect an increase in student population to come as new housing developments are built within the school district’s boundaries.
DAILY JOURNAL FILE PHOTO
Half of Johnson County’s six school districts experienced growth from last year to this year, according to school data.
The data comes from student tallies school officials send the Indiana Department of Education each September. Indian Creek, Clark-Pleasant and Center Grove schools have more students in their buildings this fall than last, while enrollment decreased at Franklin, Edinburgh and Greenwood schools.
Keeping up with growth
Center Grove schools experienced the most growth. The district has both the largest enrollment in Johnson County, at 9,434 students, and the largest increase in new students, with 363. With the increase, Center Grove is projected to cross the 10,000-student threshold in 2024 or 2025. The growth has prompted renovation projects to add classrooms to the high school, the district’s two middle schools, Sugar Grove and Pleasant Grove elementary schools.
The growth has been driven by development in Bargersville, said Jason Taylor, assistant superintendent. Growth in the town also spurred the district to open Walnut Grove Elementary in 2019.
Between 2006 and 2021, the school district grew by 1,921 students, which is 16th highest in the state among about 300 school districts, he said.
“The challenge is continuing to fund additional classrooms and space for our students. The benefit is we get additional revenue from the state and we can hire additional teachers to teach those students,” Taylor said. “This year we added 13 teachers. In a typical year it might be four to six. I think we’ll see it again next year. New home construction has not slowed down in Center Grove.”
Clark-Pleasant’s student population has grown, albeit not as rapidly as Center Grove’s. After a pandemic lull, the district added 88 students. The school district had 6,845 students in September, 814 more than it did 10 years ago. Growth prompted the district to open Ray Crowe Elementary School last year, and this year the school board voted to approve a $235 million high school expansion project.
The project will take place from 2023 to 2027 and will add 28 classrooms and upgrade the school’s auditorium, pool, cafeteria, band and choir spaces.
The school district, although its population is increasing, has slowed its growth since 2012, when it had the second-highest growth rate in the state. Between 2002 and 2012, Clark-Pleasant grew its student population by 61%.
“The concern is growing too fast and that’s what it looked like in the early and middle 2000s,” Superintendent Patrick Spray said. “Just because you’re growing doesn’t mean you have all this excess as far as funds. You have to balance that as far as the number of staff you need, maintenance and adding programs.”
Indian Creek schools edged past the 2,000 mark by two students last fall and now the district has 2,070 students. Over the past decade, its 23% growth rate has almost mirrored that of Center Grove, which grew 24% between 2012 and 2022. In response to that growth, workers last year broke ground on a $33.5 million project to build a new auditorium and student activities center.
With additional state revenue the schools receive, district leaders have been able to hire more teachers to keep the student-teacher ratio manageable, Superintendent Tim Edsell said.
“The revenue we get for our students is for our education fund. We’re able to compensate teachers in a competitive manner. We’ve been able to give decent to significant raises with the teachers’ association and classified staff to encourage them to stay here,” Edsell said. “We’re nearing capacity at the elementary and intermediate school and working on strategic planning and ideas for the next three to six years. We have space at the middle school and high school, but we’re always discussing and analyzing not just personnel, but capacity.”
Down, but not for long
While Franklin schools have slightly fewer students now than last fall, that dip isn’t expected to last. The district had 4,886 students last fall, compared to 4,872 now, but the schools have 49 more students than they did in February, said Tina Gross, chief financial officer.
In the coming years, more than 1,750 single-family homes and more than 525 multi-family apartment units are set to be built within Franklin’s school district boundaries. The district includes students from the city of Franklin, town of Bargersville residents who live in Union Township, and Johnson County residents who live outside of city and town limits.
Franklin schools peaked in population 10 years ago, with about 5,100 students. With the growth, that mark is reachable in the coming years, she said.
“We do, at this point, have more transfer students out than in. I think a stronger reason for the decline is that we’re not replacing as many students. We had a senior class of about 400 that graduated and we’re replacing them with about 330 kindergartners,” Gross said. “I think our (housing) development just hasn’t caught up yet.”
The anticipated growth has resulted in school leaders planning ahead. They redrew school boundaries earlier this year to make room for future students and are planning to renovate and expand Union Elementary School in anticipation of new housing in Bargersville.
Landlocked districts shrink
With much of the development happening on the fringes of Greenwood, the district named for the city is locked out of growth, said Terry Terhune, superintendent. Though townhomes at The Madison and apartments approved near the airport will add students in the coming years, much of the land in the district is already developed.
The school district had 3,839 in 2012 and had 3,937 in September, an increase of less than 100 students over the course of a decade. In fall 2017, the peak of its enrollment, it had 4,004 students.
“We’re not going to be a mega district. We will be the size we are right now, between 3,900 maybe and 4,000 and we will have a great experience for our kids because of our size,” Terhune said. “It allows us to know our children better, our parents and families, and individualize our education to our kids. To me, our size is an advantage. It provides a richer experience for our kids. They can do a lot more here.”
The population of Edinburgh has been striking for decades and Edinburgh schools have followed the trend. The Timbergate subdivision is building out, but there’s not much other housing activity in Edinburgh right now. However, town council members have said they’re hoping to change that in the future.
Student population stayed relatively flat from 2017 to 2021, but dropped from 820 students to 806 this year. The period of relative stability followed a precipitous decline from 2012 to 2017, when the student body shrank by 62 students, more than 7% of total enrollment.
The decrease in enrollment has meant less money for the district and, as a result, teacher salaries have been outpaced by other county districts. Earlier this year, voters in the town passed a referendum to increase their property taxes by 39 cents for every $100 of assessed value in order to help the school district pay for future teacher salary increases.
Before the referendum passed, Superintendent Ron Ross had warned possible consolidation with another school district could be imminent due to funding difficulties.
STUDENT POPULATION BY YEAR
Comparing Fall enrollment numbers by school district
Center Grove
2012: 7,584
2017: 8,275
2021: 9,071
2022: 9,434
Clark-Pleasant
2012: 6,031
2017: 6,551
2021: 6,757
2022: 6,845
Franklin
2012: 5,087
2017: 5,097
2021: 4,886
2022: 4,872
Greenwood
2012: 3,839
2017: 4,004
2021: 3,950
2022: 3,937
Indian Creek
2012: 1,680
2017: 1,833
2021: 2,002
2022: 2,070
Edinburgh
2012: 879
2017: 817
2021: 820
2022: 806
Source: Johnson County schools
