CANFIELD SCHOOLS State won't bail us out, superintendent says

The school district hasn't sought an additional local operating levy in eight years.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- This school district will have to solve its own financial problems and can't rely on the state for a bailout, schools Superintendent Dante Zambrini told a group of several dozen parents and other community residents here.
"The state says: 'We are going to reduce the amount [of state aid] because your community has the local ability to pay more.' Columbus is not going to help us," Zambrini told the audience at a forum Tuesday at C.H. Campbell Elementary School.
A 6.9-mill, five-year additional operating levy, which failed on the May ballot, will appear on the November ballot. It would raise about $3 million a year and cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $181 in additional annual property taxes. If the levy fails, school officials have said busing would have to be reduced, fees would have to be charged for extracurricular activities, and the district would likely be about $900,000 in debt by the end of this school year.
'Parity funds'
Zambrini explained to the audience that the state provides urban and rural school districts with what it calls "parity funds" to compensate for their deficiencies in producing local revenue, but relatively wealthy suburban districts, such as Canfield, do not qualify for these funds, and must assume more of the funding responsibility at the local level.
Although it has the highest annual median household income of the 14 Mahoning County public school districts, Canfield ranks last in revenue per pupil and fourth from the bottom in spending per pupil, he said.
"We do more with less," Zambrini said, noting that the district has abolished three administrative positions, and postponed bus and textbook purchases. Despite inflation in textbook, insurance and other costs, this is the first new operating levy the district has sought since 1994, he said.
Watchdog panel
To assure accountability, Zambrini said the school board would appoint a committee of eight to 10 financially knowledgeable community volunteers to review the district's books three times a year.
"There are no hidden agendas. There are no secrets," he said.
After this election, Zambrini said he plans to appoint a committee to study the possibility of having a small school district income tax to reduce the property tax burden in the future.
Although the audience was largely pro-levy, not everyone was enthusiastic about the proposed new tax.
Charlotte Wilkeson questioned the accuracy of the $181 figure. She said even that annual amount would be "a substantial increase'' because she and her husband, Wayne, both retired, own their home on Canfield-Niles Road and an additional rental property in the district.