Sunday, October 13, 2002
Passing a levy is an 'economically sound choice,' the superintendent says.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- School officials here are preparing for a future without additional levy funding -- a future in which it costs $300 to play sports and high school students can't take buses to school.
"If the revenue's not there, just as in a business, you face layoffs and reductions of service," Superintendent Dante Zambrini said.
A 6.9-mill, five-year additional operating levy for the schools will appear on the November ballot. The levy would produce about $3 million per year beginning next year.
If the levy fails, the schools are expected to be about $900,000 in debt by the end of this school year, which ends June 30, 2003. The state also will place the district, which has a $20 million operating budget, in a fiscal emergency.
The levy initially failed in May.
Planned cuts
Zambrini said the lack of additional funding would force the district to make budget cuts and policy changes to save money. Those changes would start to take effect this winter, when pupils in grades seven through 12 would be charged $300 for each sport they play.
Pupils in those grades also would be charged $50 for taking part in an extracurricular activity, including band.
Without additional money, school officials also would stop offering buses for high school students beginning Jan. 27. All pupils who live within 2 miles of their school also wouldn't be bused, and the district would stop providing buses to transport Cardinal Mooney High School students.
Zambrini noted that decisions on faculty cuts would be made in April, when teachers' contracts are set to be renewed.
A state financial consultant is expected to meet with school officials this month to talk about the proposed changes.
The superintendent added that even if the changes are made after the levy fails, the district still would have to borrow money to pay its bills. School officials would then have to ask residents to approve a levy worth more than 10 mills to pay back the loan plus interest, Zambrini continued.
"I am sure that Canfield residents will do the right thing and make an economically sound choice and pass this levy," he added.
Forums on levy
School officials will have the first of three public forums to discuss the levy at 7 p.m. Tuesday at C.H. Campbell Elementary School on Moreland Drive.
The owner of a $100,000 home in the district would pay an additional $180.69 per year in taxes if the levy is approved.
Zambrini placed most of the blame for the district's financial problems on the state, which makes some decisions on how much the residents of a district can afford to pay for education. The state thinks the residents of Canfield, Boardman and Poland can afford to pay more than the residents of most other districts, he said.
As a result, those districts receive less state funding than districts like Youngstown, Zambrini said.
"The state has thrust us into the role of being fund-raisers," he said. "They've made it perfectly clear that the only solution you have is to go back for local revenue."
Statistics provided by Zambrini show that Canfield has the highest annual median income -- $38,230 -- but the lowest revenue per pupil -- $6,031 -- among the 14 school districts in Mahoning County.
Zambrini and the Boardman and Poland superintendents are having a presentation on school funding by Dick Maxwell, the executive director of the Buckeye Association of School Administrators, at 7 p.m. Oct. 23 at Boardman High School.
Saving money
Both Zambrini and Dennis Kowalski, Canfield's new business manager, stressed that school officials also have been working to cut the district's spending before the levy vote.
Kowalski said the schools are participating in group-purchasing programs with other districts so they can pay less for supplies. School officials are not replacing employees who resign or retire.
"We are on a bare-bones operation," Kowalski added.
Zambrini said the district is saving residents money this year by making the final payments on the 1-mill, 22-year school bond issue approved by voters in 1992. The bond issue was used to pay for an addition to Canfield Middle School.
The bond millage is set to be removed from Canfield's property tax bills in December.
hill@vindy.com