Indiana board OKs full takeover of Muncie school district

MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) - A state board has given a state-appointed emergency manager full control of a financially-strapped eastern Indiana school district.

Members of Indiana's Distressed Unit Appeal Board acknowledged during a Wednesday meeting in Indianapolis that Muncie Community Schools has made financial progress.

But The Star Press reports that board members found that progress insufficient and voted to give the Muncie district's emergency manager full control over the district's finances and academics by designating it as a distressed political subdivision.

Indiana lawmakers enacted special legislation this year requiring the state board to send in a state-appointed emergency management team of private consultants to help Muncie's financially struggling district.

That legislation authorized the board to either terminate the emergency manager or give it full control of the district's academics and finances by year's end.

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Information from: The Star Press, http://www.thestarpress.com