David Smith repeats the data so often, he has it committed to memory: Evansville’s public school system educates about 22,000 children and employs around 3,450 people. It operates on 935 acres, in properties valued at $1.4 billion. Its cafeterias serve roughly 4 million meals, and its buses traverse 3 million or so miles per year. “We drive two-thirds of the way around the equator every day — 16,000 miles,” Smith says.
The Evansville native’s time in the driver’s seat is nearly up. The former teacher, principal, and administrator in the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation is retiring after 14 years as superintendent. Smith spoke with Evansville Business about overseeing Indiana’s third-largest school district and what lies ahead for him and Sarah, his wife of 35 years
EVANSVILLE BUSINESS: BEYOND THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, WHAT WERE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES YOU FACED AS SUPERINTENDENT?
David Smith: I was appointed assistant superintendent for human resources and business on a Monday night, and the next day, (then-) Gov. Mitch Daniels announced a $6.5 million reduction in funding, calling that the new normal. That was in 2009, and we’ve not recovered since then. I don’t mean as a district — I mean the state. Indiana still ranks toward the bottom in what they spend per student on kids. In fact, they spend less now than they did in 2010 when adjusted for inflation.
The biggest change is the loss of local control. I’ve heard people say, we have the citizens of Vanderburgh County vote for seven school board members, and they expect them to lead and govern this organization … There has been an average of 39 new education-related laws per year for the past eight years. You now have individuals who are representatives from throughout Indiana who have even more influence on the EVSC than people who live in Vanderburgh County. As we have less and less local control, that’s frustrating.
EB: WHAT ARE YOU THE PROUDEST OF DURING YOUR TENURE?
DS: We were blessed with incredible individuals, not just on my leadership team, but principals and teachers, custodians, everybody. … We served 800,000 meals when we were closed (during the pandemic), and that was also due to a great partnership with AmeriQual Group. I think about our OptIn workforce development approach that was started in 2018, and now the state is basically adopting that kind of approach seven years later. … This was our way of connecting the military, employers, and universities with basically one point of contact versus the eight different high schools that we have.
EB: WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU?
DS: Some opportunities have come up since I’ve announced my retirement, but I promised my wife I was going to say no to those things for a couple months. It certainly is the plan to stay in Evansville. It’s my home, and I was blessed to work for 43 years here.
