Dayton School Levy Decision Next Week

DAYTON - Officials have less than a week to decide whether voters in the Dayton School District will pass judgment in February on a new school levy. With expenses rising and revenue disappearing at an alarming rate, Superinten­dent Doug Johnson and the five-member school board are sweating it. "The first question people are going to ask is, 'What are we going to spend the money on?'" Johnson said during a public presentation at the school last week. "The prob­lem is, I don't know. I just know we're going to need it." With cuts proposed at the state level going deeper every day, board member Steve Martin said, the district will likely need money from an additional maintenance and operations levy just to keep current programs, teachers and staff.

"I think the crystal ball is pretty clear to me," he said. "I'll mince no words. We will not have as much money from the state in the future as we have now."

Yet the state board of edu­cation keeps bringing new graduation requirements to the table. "They continue to ask teachers, staff and bus driv­ers to add more without compensation," Johnson said.

The superintendent re­ported that enrollment has declined by at least 60 stu­dents in the last five years, with more students graduat­ing out than those coming in at the kindergarten level. And we get paid by the number of students who roam our hallways," he said.

Yet class sizes are al­ready larger than they have been for many years (be­cause

of fewer teachers), so letting teachers go doesn't necessarily solve the prob­lem, he said. And more state requirements mean the dis­trict needs well-trained and subject-specific instructors. Already since 2005 the district has lost seven teach­ers, two counselors (the dis­trict is functioning entirely without counselors now), the athletic director and a number of office staff. The board has also made severe cutbacks to custodial and food service hours. And the high school library is now open just half a day instead of a full day.

The board must decide whether to propose a levy by its Dec. 15 board meet­ing to get it on the ballot for February. Johnson said he and the board are pushing to do it now, rather than in the fall, because of the 18-month lag time between approval of the levy and collection of funds - that year and a half may be too long to wait, he said. Sixty-four percent of voters approved a two-year maintenance and operations levy last school year, in Feb­ruary 2010, to be collected in 2011 and 2012. John­son estimated about $1.1 million will be collected through property taxes in 2011, at $2.25 per $1,000 value. The one-year levy now proposed would be col­lected in 2012 in an amount near $200,000, or 50 cents per $1,000 value. Funds would be used to fill the void where state dollars are cut and operations costs in­crease, Johnson said. Any "extra" money from the levy that was generated if, say, state cuts didn't turn out to be as deep as pre­dicted,

he said, would go to restore programs already cut based on student need, counseling services, support staff and more.

Another idea floated at last week's meeting, if the public weren't in favor of a maintenance and operations levy, would be a one-year capital project levy to be collected in 2012 at nearly $250,000, or 65 cents per $1,000 value. Projects like replacing old and unsafe bleachers, broken sidewalks and torn-up asphalt at the playground would be com­pleted in the spring or sum­mer of 2013. Members of the audience didn't seem keen on the idea of a capital project levy. "I think it's going to be tough to sell (the idea of) bleachers when you're talk­ing about cutting teachers," said Charlie Button. Button is CEO of Dayton General Hospital, a member of the Dayton City Council and has two teenage children en­rolled in the Dayton School District. Johnson's argument was that the school is a hub of the community, its facilities being in constant use by members of the public who could be injured on the un­safe and old bleachers and sidewalks. "Money that was spent on someone getting hurt would take away from mon­ey we could spend on stu­dents," he said. Though the district began the 2010-2011 school year with a balanced budget, "enrollment declines a few years ago, combined with deficitspending," have sig­nificantly reduced money in Dayton's operating re­serve fund, Johnson told the Times in August. The school board will make a decision during its meeting on Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. in the administration building. For more detailed information, visit the dis­trict's

website at www.dayton.wednet.edu where the slides and questions and answers from last week's workshop are online. You may also contact Johnson at 509-382-2543 or via e-mail at dougj@daytonsd.org.