A bill that would dissolve the Gary and Tri-Township school corporations has other districts on alert.
House Bill 1136 would dissolve school districts in which more than half of the students living there don't attend the district's schools. The dissolved district's schools would then be turned into charter schools.
That wouldn't affect School City of Hammond at this point, since about 73 percent of students who live there attend the public school. Still, School Board President Carlotta Blake-King worries that it would impact the district in the future.
"It's not happening to us today, but certainly, if it passes, they can move that 50 percent to 40 percent to 30 percent, until they get us," Blake-King said during Tuesday's school board meeting.
Blake-King urged parents to call the bill's author and tell him to "kill the bill." She also wanted to work with the Hammond Teachers Federation to rally at the Statehouse, if it advances.
There's also some legislation that aims to benefit School City of Hammond. Senator Dan Dernulc (R-Highland) authored a bill that would exempt the former Gavit High School from the state's requirement that vacant schools be made available to charter schools before a district sells or disposes of it.
