BERLIN CENTER School funding meetings planned

The superintendent says he wants the school board to pass a resolution urging the state to change the way it funds schools.
By JoANN JONES
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BERLIN CENTER -- Western Reserve Superintendent Charles Swindler is worried about school finances in Ohio.
Swindler criticized the state's method of funding education when the board of education met Thursday evening at the high school.
"There's an over-reliance on property tax," Swindler said. He pointed out the difference one mill generates for various districts, based on the property tax formula.
"One mill [of property tax] in Boardman generates $850,200," he said. "One mill in our district generates $73,679."
As a member of District 4 of the Buckeye Association of School Administrators, Swindler, who also teaches a class on school funding at Youngstown State University, has been active in promoting a grass-roots organization to contact the state Legislature about changing funding methods.
He said that public meetings on the subject are to be held at Jackson-Milton High School on Oct. 21 and at Boardman High School on Oct. 23. The times will be announced later.
Swindler said he would prepare a sample resolution requesting the state to use less reliance on property taxes, which he would like the Western Reserve board to approve at its November meeting.
Other action
In other business, several Young Artists, an honor initiated by the board, were given the opportunity to showcase their works in the central office.
District art teachers introduced third-graders McKenzie Phipps and James Wolfe, sixth-grader Ryan (Steve) Adams, freshman Carolann Pitcairn, and seniors Teri Bade, Dana Hendricks and Amber Moffet, who displayed their works of art for the board before hanging them in the superintendent's office.
"These pictures will hang in my office until January," Swindler said.
The board hired Karen Dillon of Austintown as a secretary at Ellsworth Elementary.
The board also approved transportation agreements with payments to the parents for district students attending parochial schools. The Ohio Department of Education will calculate the payment to two parents for transporting two students to St. Mary and Joseph School, and one to Cardinal Mooney High School.