NEW HAVEN – During the final minutes of an East Allen County Schools bus tour, New Haven City Councilman Roger Clayton stared out the window into yet another cornfield.

“God, this is a huge school district,” he said. “It must be a third of the county.”

He was close, but a little low on his estimate: At roughly 330 square miles, East Allen actually takes up close to half of Allen County.

Clayton, along with several principals, board members, parents and concerned residents, spent Thursday morning visiting every school in their sprawling district. They knew the ride would be long but didn’t expect to spend more than three hours driving past the district’s mobile homes, urban neighborhoods, buggies and private schools.

If all goes as planned, the East Allen County Schools board will vote in September on a final proposal to transform its district. East Allen Superintendent Karyle Green’s team has suggested that closing, transforming and building certain schools could help the district save from $6 million to $8 million in operating costs.

The bus tour was meant to give the public a look at schools that could be affected by the transformation and allow residents to ask questions about various scenarios.

About 25 people, including board members Janice Witte and the Rev. Stephen Terry, showed up for the trip. Although there were a few questions, most passengers looked out the windows and talked among themselves.

In recent meetings to discuss changing the district, communities have lobbied hard against school closures in their area. The Monroeville community has been the most outspoken.

Green has not been the first superintendent to suggest closing Monroeville or other schools.

During the ride, Terry said he thought the board and superintendent need to do a better job of emphasizing how reconfiguring the district could improve education.

“We’ve got to sell this better,” he told Witte and others. “Tell me there’s a better future. We’ve got to do a better job of saying we’ll have more courses or more opportunities.”

The district’s projected 2010 budget had a $10 million shortfall.

In March, the school board approved $4 million worth of budget cuts.

But Green maintains that decreased interest revenue, rising costs, plummeting tax revenue and a drop in state funding have put the district in a financial bind.

She says the evolving state and national financial landscape has made it impossible to predict just how much the district will need to cut each year to maintain the status quo.

Just recently, the school board voted to put a property tax levy referendum on the November ballot.

If approved, the district could collect a maximum of $8 million from the district each year.

Green has not yet described how the funds would be used but has said she will provide more detail as the vote approaches.

Clayton, of New Haven, said he appreciated the tour more for the chance to ask questions than for the opportunity to see the district’s 17 schools.

“The school board is going to have to make some hard decisions,” he said. “They don’t need to worry about getting re-elected. They just need to do the best thing for the community.”

dhaynie@jg.net