MUNCIE — The Legislature passed a bill on Friday night requiring the state to appoint a temporary emergency manager for "fiscally impaired" Muncie Community Schools.
It was an intervention opposed by the school board, the Muncie Teachers Association, Mayor Dennis Tyler, Muncie City Council and many others in the community. Because of that opposition, it wasn't as drastic as originally proposed by the House.
"State takeover probation I guess is what I’d call, it or a temporary state takeover," Rep. Sue Errington, D-Muncie, told The Star Press. "There is a possibility in December we get off probation and go back to the way we were."
Senate Bill 567, which passed the Senate 50-0 and the House 88-10, was one of the final actions of the 2017 Indiana General Assembly. The measure now goes to the governor for his signature.
The temporary emergency manager would be appointed by the state's Distressed Unit Appeal Board (DUAB). The bill says the person appointed to the position "may" be MCS Superintendent Steve Baule.
"It doesn't mean the superintendent will be declared as the emergency manager, but he could be," Errington said.