Elkhart Community Schools looking towards consolidation

ELKHART, Ind. — Elkhart Community Schools held the first of three State of the District meetings Wed. evening, where they invited the community to hear about the progress the district has made and how Elkhart Schools must take steps toward consolidation to have a bright future.  

“I had an opportunity to talk to the community about our district’s great successes we’ve had in our academic areas, in our arts, in our athletics, but also it was a good opportunity to let them know about our finances and to talk about how Senate Enrolled Act-1 (SEA-1) impacts Elkhart, but also some of things were going to be talking about in this consolidation process,” said Elkhart Community Schools Superintendent, Dr. Larry Huff.  

Dr. Huff said those accomplishments are across the board, including having the leading career center in Indiana, a graduation rate on the rise; estimated to go above 95%, and a double-digit increase for IREAD results in Spring of 2025.  

However, they are also facing a decreasing enrollment with less funding on the horizon due to the effects of SEA-1. In 2028, they must begin sharing part of their operation fund with school districts that receive a hundred or more of Elkhart students, like charter schools. 

“We have approximately… 29 buildings, 23 buildings that we’re using, but we have 29 entities inside of those buildings. They’re designed to hold 17,000 students; we have 10,100 students. That is almost a 40 percent difference… The district has to do something because you cannot continue to operate in the same manner or there will not be the district that you love and you remember,” said Dr. Huff.  

Dr. Huff said they are going to take a look at consolidating schools, with that timeline happening quickly. It starts in Oct. with these State of the District meetings, where they introduced this process and Phase One: Plan and Engage. Then, he will present policy recommendations to the board in Phase Two: Policy and Discussion lasting from Oct-Nov, before entering Phase Three: Implement and Support, from Feb-Aug 2026.  

“Looking at the different schools and scenarios to say, ‘hey what can we do to pair off some of our schools?’ Some of our schools have enrollments as low as 250 kids and they’re designed to have almost 900. So, we will look at that, I will work with district leaders and staff… I’ll work with our parent community and community leaders. Getting your feedback is critical because then I will present… a protocol on which will be used to determine which schools would be the ones we consider for consolidation… all that is happening and it’s happening now. Next month through January, probably in late November, I will come to the school board and I will make a recommendation of these schools, these are the ones we should look at… and then we’ll make a decision… we will make sure to communicate these decisions through our website, directly to you, and by having these meetings,” said Dr. Huff.  

To fill out the feedback form, click here. 

Meeting Schedule (6-7 PM): 

Thursday, Oct. 16 - Trinity on Jackson (2715 E Jackson Blvd, Elkhart) 

Monday, Oct. 20 - St. James A.M.E. (122 Doctor M.L.K. Jr Dr, Elkhart)