WEATHERSFIELD SCHOOLS District pursues grant for solvency

School officials continue to look for ways to cut costs but say a levy is needed.
By MARY R. SMITH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MINERAL RIDGE -- The Weathersfield school board approved asking the Ohio Department of Education to certify its eligibility for a $620,000 catastrophic grant.
The money would come from the School District Solvency Assistance Fund for fiscal year 2004.
Schools superintendent Rocco Adduci told the board Wednesday the district actually hopes the state will give it two grants, one for lost revenue in previous years and a second for the money the district will lose this year. The big loss in revenue this year is a $621,000 reduction in personal property tax paid for 2001 by RMI. The district is projecting a $1.2 million deficit for the next fiscal year.
He noted that, beginning in December, district Treasurer Angela Lewis will inform the state of the district's cost-cutting measures.
Deals with unions
He added that parts of cost-cutting measures already approved, which would save about $300,000 this year and next, must still be worked out with the district's employees.
Adduci said the members of the teachers union and the nonteaching staff's union have been asked to extend their contracts, both of which expire this summer, to keep the same wording and include no pay raises.
The employees are also being asked to switch in January to a new medical-coverage plan through the Trumbull County Schools Employee Benefits Consortium that will save the schools money.
Levy efforts
Adduci said part of the requirement for getting a catastrophic grant is proving that the district will be able to remain solvent in the long run. Officials said a tax levy will be put on the ballot in May. If it fails, it will be back on the ballot in August and, if necessary, next November.
If the district doesn't pass a levy, the state could declare the district in fiscal emergency and then tell the district where to make cuts, he said.
In addition, if the levy fails, the district would have to go to a "pay to participate" plan in which pupils would have to pay to be in extracurricular activities, such as sports, band and clubs. In addition, the district would begin busing only pupils in grades kindergarten through four who live more than 2 miles from school. Currently, all pupils are bused.
The board renewed contracts Wednesday for Adduci and Lewis with a one-year wage freeze. Adduci, who makes $68,000 annually, was given a five-year pact from Aug. 1, 2003, to July 31, 2008, and Lewis, who makes $47,250, was given a four-year contract from January 2003 to January 2007.