Supt. Message
Dreams, Desires and DestinyCulver Community Schools Corporation has a dream of attracting families to Culver Schools and community. In order to attract families who wish to become year round residents within our school corporation boundaries, we need to increase both our curricular and extracurricular programs. We already have many students who excel academically with recognition as Lily Scholars, 21st Century Scholars, and many university scholarship recipients. We currently have outstanding, award-winning extracurricular programs such as Future Farmers of America, Business Professionals of America, and our band and choir ensembles. However, our numbers are few in each of these due to the overall enrollment. As superintendent, I, Karen Shuman, would like community members to share their dreams for Culver schools.
As superintendent, I wish to see the school corporation serve the community desires to the greatest capacity. One way capacity is built is to support our teachers, coaches, and staff in salary, benefits, and professional development. We began this process four years ago by working with Marzano Institute of High Reliability Schools that focuses on student growth and achievement by meeting the students where they are and helping them master beyond the standards. We are now able to give teachers salaries that are above the state averge after they had not had a raises for years. We are able to absorb insurance increases for staff and teachers due to many cuts that were implemented in the past five years. We are able to provide the community, Culver Youth Club, and non-profit organizations use of our facilities and grounds to build their youth programs. We provide summer lunch programs to seven communities to ensure children have good nutrition throughout the summer. We wish to sustain these programs and build them.
The cuts of the past created the stability of today, but now it is time to grow for tomorrow. We residents of the Culver area are at a good pivotal point of being able to grow as a community and as a school. In order to grow and continue the financial trends over the next 5 or more years, Culver Community Schools needs more revenue. Revenue can be increased by: growing enrollment; increasing corporation geographical size; or increasing tax rates.
Culver Community Schools destiny is based on increasing enrollment, expanding programs, and maximizing dollars to recruit and retain the best of the best staff and teachers. Families decide where to take roots based on the quality of schools, availability of jobs, and general quality of life.
Currently, Culver Community Schools Corporation asks for 44 cents for each 100 dollars of assessed valuation. This is the lowest tax rate for the whole state of Indiana. In 2019, Culver Community Schools asked our voters to vote Yes to increase this tax rate through a referendum to 61 cents. We thank our community for supporting this tax increase. In November 2026, we will need to vote again for this increase to remain as a revenue source for our curriculuar programs, our vocational programs, our teachers and staff salaries and benefits, safety measures, and increased operational costs.
As superintendent, I am asking for community members to be part of this dream, share desires, and help make the destiny a reality. Please email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., call me at 574-842-3364, or visit me at the administration building at 701 School Street. I look forward to hearing from you and scheduling more community outreach in the coming weeks.
