News release, La Porte Community School Corporation:
Board shares six-year goal at Sept. 14 meeting; new podcast episode takes community inside the decision
The La Porte Community School Corporation Board of School Trustees has announced a shared vision for the next six years of the district’s work, along with a public goal and a date attached to it.
“Our shared vision is to make La Porte the Destination District of Northwest Indiana: the place families choose, educators build careers, and students find everything they need to succeed,” Board President Ryan Seaburg told the community at the board’s Sept. 14 meeting. “In Indiana, families have a choice about where their children go to school. A destination district is one that earns that choice every year.”
The vision took shape at a board retreat in July, where the full board and the district leadership team, including several leaders new to La Porte this year, spent a day working toward a single direction. Indiana school boards are not required to hold retreats. Board members said they chose it because leadership that is not aligned cannot ask anyone else to follow.
Leaders provided a clear account of the district’s current situation alongside the announcement. Recent changes to state property tax law have decreased Operations revenue, prompting La Porte to create its 2026 budget after making significant cuts. Districts throughout Indiana are facing similar challenges this year, and this financial pressure will continue into the 2028 budget year. Detailed figures are available in the district’s regular budget reports to the board.
The outlook changes in 2029, when revenue from the Microsoft development in La Porte is expected to begin reaching the district. The district receives 15% of the property taxes generated by the new development, and the revenue grows as each additional building is constructed and assessed. District leaders said the projections they plan against are conservative, and that they will commit only the dollars they are certain of.
The board also addressed the referendum it had been preparing to bring to voters in 2026. A consultant had already been retained when the Microsoft opportunity emerged. The board made the decision not to take the question to the taxpayers.
“The need was real, and it has not gone away,” Superintendent Dr. Sandra Wood said. “The next two budgets are still tight, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. What changed is the answer. This delivers more than a referendum would have; it does not raise anyone’s tax rate, and it does not require winning an election.”
The board’s first commitment under the new vision is people. By 2032, La Porte Community School Corporation intends to be the highest-paying school district in Northwest Indiana in every role, certified and classified, from classrooms to kitchens to bus routes.
District leaders described the salary goal as a means rather than an end. Every district in Northwest Indiana recruits from the same pool of teachers, therapists, counselors, aides and drivers, and the adult in front of a child is the largest single factor in that child’s school day. The standard rises with the investment: excellence expected, excellence supported, excellence recognized.
Much of the work begins now, before any new revenue arrives. Leaders pointed to what a destination district is made of that costs nothing: students and families known by name, staff backed on the hard days, news delivered directly by district leadership, work recognized all year long. Going forward, one question applies to every decision in every building and department: Will this move us closer to becoming the Destination District?
The board committed to reporting publicly, at a board meeting, where the district stands against this goal every year through 2032, and said families and staff will hear what October’s enrollment count means, and what this winter’s budget decisions are, directly from district leadership.
Community members can hear the full conversation on the latest episode of Inside La Porte Schools, the district’s podcast hosted by Dr. Wood. In the episode, Seaburg and board members Amy Jackson and Nate Loucks discuss the retreat, what a destination district means for every family and employee, and the honest work ahead over the next two years. The episode is available now wherever podcasts are found and is linked from the district website at lpcsc.k12.in.us.