EVSC families owe more than $250K from the 2022-23 school year. Here's what's included.

EVANSVILLE — As the school year nears a close, records from the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation show the system is still trying to recover $250,000 in debt from families from the 2022-23 school year.

The data, obtained by the Courier & Press through a public records request, shows parents and guardians of EVSC students owe $259,790.39 across all schools for 2022-23 for items ranging from extended daycare services and lost computers to textbooks and meals.

EVSC spokesman Jason Woebkenberg said data for debt for the 2023-24 school year likely will be compiled this summer.

During the EVSC Board of Trustees meeting Monday, the school system unanimously approved an agreement with Kinum, a debt collection service, to handle the outstanding balances.

According to the service agreement, during its "collect" phase, Kinum's system contacts those who owe money up to four times. If the person does not respond, the EVSC can assign and delegate the collection duties to Kinum.

Kinum will notify the EVSC before an account is changed from "connect" to "collect," and the EVSC can pause or cancel that move before it happens.

"If our in-house collection team is unsuccessful in collecting the debt, we will notify you when we are about to transfer an account to an attorney to make additional collection efforts and give you the opportunity to pause or cancel it," the agreement states.

According to NerdWallet, collections accounts will generally stay on a person's credit report for up to seven years. Collections can have an overall negative impact on a person's credit score, which is often needed to obtain car loans, mortgages and other major purchases.

Debt owed by some EVSC families spreads across multiple areas, and lost items alone can be anything from unreturned library books to laptops.

It's also specifically noted Kinum will handle the 2022-23 textbook debt since Indiana now promises free textbooks in public schools. The change started this school year, meaning that specific area of debt can't grow, but it also won't go away.

Woebkenberg said under Indiana State Board of Accounts regulations, school corporation cannot wipe away debt for students. The Courier & Press reached out to the SBOA to ask what policy outlines that guidance and were sent to chapter one of the Accounting and Uniform Compliance Guidelines For Indiana Public Schools.

"Units have a responsibility to collect amounts owed to the unit pursuant to procedures authorized by law," the chapter states.

Debt in the K-8 EVSC schools

North Junior High has the largest amount of lost-item debt out of the K-12 schools for the 2022-23 school year at $11,748.04. It also has the largest amount of unpaid textbook fees, at $4,683.

Woebkenberg attributed that in part to school size. Despite only housing grades 7-8, North Junior High is much larger than other EVSC middle schools. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, North Junior High had 929 students enrolled last school year.

Thompkins Middle School follows in lost-item debt at $4,570.87. But with 6-8 grade students all in one place, it still has fewer students than North Junior High, with enrollment totaling 618 kids.

Washington Middle School, meanwhile, has a textbook debt of $2,922. In comparison to North Junior High, Washington has a small population with 353 students among sixth, seventh and eighth grade.

There's also an $18,962.50 debt for extended daycare costs that have not been paid.

Debt in the EVSC high schools

At the high school level, Harrison has the largest amount of textbook debt: $8,459.45. North follows with $6,401.80. Harrison had 1,158 students last school year, and North had 1,674.

Bosse, with 833 students, leads the lost-item debt at a total of $24,666.33.

Textbook debt and food debt

With free textbooks in place now for EVSC students, the Courier & Press asked if there was any discussion on making that policy retroactive for those that still owe from the previous year. Woebkenberg said the SBOA does not allow that to happen.

"We are bound by all the requirements of the State Board of Accounts," he said. "One thing that schools are not at liberty to do is to basically just wipe away a balance."

This means the same is true for food service. According to the EVSC, lunch debt for the 2022-23 school year is at $17,224.82.

Thirty EVSC schools participate in the community eligibility provision which gives free lunch and breakfast to every student. If a student has lunch or breakfast debt at a school that is not a part of that program, and then moves to a school that is, the EVSC cannot just wipe it away, according to Woebkenberg.

“We still have to collect those monies," he said.

As for how they do that, Woebkenberg said they send notes home, emails, phone calls, any method that works for the individual schools and families. If that doesn't result in payment, the debt then gets sent to collections. Woebkenberg said there isn't a set timeframe before that happens.

"That’s why we only turn over to collections on a very limited basis," Woebkenberg said. "We honestly work the entire year and even some time into the following school year to collect those amounts."

But within their guidelines for meal charging in EVSC cafeterias, the corporation has set clearly when a collection agency could get involved.

"Student accounts with a negative balance of $50 or more are sent letters by U.S. mail advising the household that if there is no attempt to make a payment (partial payments are accepted) within a two-week period of time, the negative meal account balance may be turned over to an outside collection agency which will incur additional court costs," the guidance states.

According to EVSC policy, the corporation can take a family to small claims court for collection on items that do not exceed $1,500. If the claim exceeds $1,500, the school board authorizes a collection action to be pursued in the appropriate court.

"The only time it gets to that issue, or the point of collections organization is involved, is really, truly as a last resort after we’ve exhausted all other possibilities," Woebkenberg said.

Debt in other EVSC-affiliated programs

The EVSC provides formal education for kids at the Evansville Psychiatric Children's Center, according to a description of the organization's programming online. For 2022-23, an EPCC family, or families, owes the EVSC $76.80 in textbook debt.

According to the hospital's website, the kids are put on individualized educations plans aimed to help them have a "smoother transition" back to school when they are released.

Special education students who attend non-EVSC schools but receive services through the EVSC are noted to owe $84.60 for textbooks, according to school corporation data.

Virtual student families owe $666.16, while children at The Learning Center, housed in Culver Elementary, have a debt of $81.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: EVSC: Parents' 2022-23 debt to schools tops $250K from books to food