April 12, 2007

By Diane Chiddister

On May 8 villagers have the opportunity to support local schools by voting for a three-year renewal of the school’s emergency levy.

“In terms of both quality and fiscal responsibility, the school system is in a very good place,” according to Yellow Springs Board of Education member Richard Lapedes, who is co-chair of the levy committee, in an interview last week. “The board’s goal is to keep it in that place and make continuous improvements in quality without compromising its financial solidity.”

A vote for the renewal levy will not raise property taxes. The emergency levy was first passed in 1999 for 10.4 mills and passed again in 2003 for 10.1 mills. Due to property reappraisals, it will be on the May 9 ballot for 9.4 mills, according to a brochure from the levy committee.

The 9.4 mill levy would provide the schools $1,060,000, or 15 percent of its total revenue. According to the brochure, that amount equals the salaries and benefits of 14 teachers, or 25 percent of the teaching staff. If the levy is not passed, the district’s loss of 15 percent of its funding would mean the schools would not be able to maintain all present programs, according to the brochure.

The levy is especially needed because the schools currently have expenses that exceed revenues by $600,000, according to District Superintendent Tony Armocida. The passage of the levy, along with spending down the school’s present $3.5 million carryover and budget reductions of at least $150,000 per year, will allow the district to continue to maintain a balanced budget for three more years.

The schools have had to engage in deficit spending due to the rising costs of special programs and health insurance, according to Armocida. This year the district cut about $160,000 from its budget by not replacing a retiring teacher and by eliminating two aide positions, Armocida said. However, a 2006 review of district expenditures by the accounting firm of Brixey Meyer, which specializes in reducing school expenditures, concluded that the firm had no spending cuts to recommend. According to the brochure, the accounting report concluded that, “You are spending little and keeping cost to a minimum.”

Currently, the district has a $3.5 million surplus due to a one-time reorganization of The Antioch Company, a large property reappraisal in 2002 and sound financial management, the brochure states. Even if the levy passes, the schools will be spending down the levy over the next three years in order to maintain a balanced budget, according to Armocida, who said that a combination of the levy passage, spending down the surplus, budget cuts and a hoped-for growth in the tax base would keep the schools in the black.

The Yellow Springs school district currently has 686 students, of whom 124 are open enrollment students, which means they are from outside the district. This number makes the district one of the largest open enrollment districts in the state. Open enrollment students bring in about $5,500 each, or about $620,000 to the district, which is 9 percent of the school budget, according to Lapedes.

The Yellow Springs school district spends $9,138 per pupil, according to 2006 Ohio Department of Education data. In neighboring communities, Beavercreek spends $9,622 per pupil, Fairborn speands $8,829, and Cedar Cliff spends $8,051.

The school board is keeping its 2001 pledge to voters to not raise local taxes, Lapedes said.

The levy committee consists of Lapedes and co-chair Anne Erickson, Teresa Bondurant-Wagner, Anita Brown, Barbara Collins-Stratton, Sean Creighton, Joy Kitzmiller, Toni Laricchiuta, Barbara Krabec, Carl Maneri, Jeanna Peifer, Wally Sikes and Shelbert Smith.

Contact: dchiddister@ysnews.com