Baird study,

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"In this case, it's just like adding the two schools together," she said. "In other schools, it can be obvious if the districts will be better or worse off. That's not the case here." This "adding the two schools together" is something Murn said she also saw when looking at the amount of debt that both districts have. Once again, she said both schools are similar, with no large amounts of outstanding debt.

"Neither district is coming into this with referendum approved debt or any other kind of debt," she said. "Which is not what you see a lot of time with a consolidation. Oftentimes, there is one district with a lot of debt that the other district is taking on. Instead, about half of the school levy is from operational referendums." After the two districts are combined, Murn said the school's financial future changes within the first four years. Without an operational referendum, by year four into the consolidated district, the district falls into an approximate $3 million deficit. In order to prevent that, an operational referendum would have to be passed for the new combined district.

"Both districts operate with operational referendums right now that help them stay afloat," she said. "But those referendums would be nullified when they consolidate. What you are looking at is what the financial future looks like without those referendums in place. You would be in the hole without an operational referendum, just like it is right now." After the presentation, a few questions were asked by board members about the results of the survey and if Baird is able to complete a consolidation study that examines more than the financial impact of consolidation. Murn said that Baird does not provide services like that, and that if the districts were interested in taking further steps towards consolidation, they would have to reach out to the Department of Public Instruction for a proper consolidation study. Both the Greenwood and Loyal boards are to hold discussion about the results of the study at their monthly November meetings. The Loyal Board of Education will meet on Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. and the Greenwood School Board will meet the following day, Nov. 21, at 7 p.m.