Lordstown School District earns an 'A' for effort

The last few years have not been easy ones for the Lordstown Local School District.
There was a day when the district didn't have an economic care in the world. Twenty-five years ago, it built a state of the art high school and bankrolled construction of a vocational school for a five-district consortium.
An automobile assembly plant, the Fisher Body plant and a van plant made Lordstown one of the wealthiest school districts in the state. But much has changed in 25 years.
There's been down scaling at the GM plant. The van plant is gone. And companies such as General Motors don't maintain the kind of taxable inventories that they did a quarter of a century ago.
Competing factors: It was inevitable that the rising cost of education and stagnant or diminishing incomes would eventually take their toll. Lordstown schools are trying to dig out from a fiscal emergency now, at the same time that the very existence of the General Motors plant is being decided.
Just a year ago we strongly criticized school district officials for attempting to treat the GM plant and its employees as a cash cow. At the time, the administration and the board were talking about using a loophole in Ohio law to impose an income tax on GM employees, even though 98 percent of them live outside the school district. That plan was abandoned.
What a difference a year makes. The board has now taken the initiative to reach an agreement with General Motors on a 10-year tax abatement plan in the event that the company decides to renovate or build a new plant to produce the next generation of GM's small cars.
The board will not lose any income -- it could ill afford to do so while it is working to get its house in order -- but neither will it enjoy a windfall.
Best for all: In agreeing to the tax abatement, Lordstown Schools have not only wisely recognized that their best interests lie in encouraging GM to bring a new product to the Lordstown plant, but they have also acted in the best interests of the entire Mahoning Valley.
Giant corporations have become used to being able to attract money-saving offers from states, counties and other taxing districts that are competing for new facilities and the jobs they bring. Had Lordstown not made GM an offer, a dozen other sites would have jumped at the chance.
The United Auto Workers union has worked with General Motors to show its good faith, state and local governments have committed themselves to providing incentives. Now the local school district has added its voice to those willing to assure General Motors that the company won't do any better in selecting a site for its new car than right here.