Warren schools laud passage of bond issue

School levies in most Trumbull County districts failed.
By DENISE DICK
and SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Passage of a bond issue for all-new Warren schools means a new beginning for the city, supporters say.
The news wasn't as bright in the Bristol, Hubbard and Weathersfield school districts and most of the other Trumbull County school districts will levies on the ballot.
Warren Superintendent Betty J. English and Lynn Gibson, school board president, credited voters and the bond issue committee for the victory. John Taylor, city treasurer, and Tom Klingeman led the committee.
The 5.5-mill bond issue and accompanying 1-mill maintenance and permanent improvement levy will generate the 19 percent local match for the estimated $169 million project. The Ohio School Facilities Commission is providing the remaining 81 percent.
The plan is for five new kindergarten-through-eighth-grade buildings and a new high school, with existing school buildings likely to be demolished.
"Spread the word, Warren is back," Taylor said. "We've got a new mayor, new school buildings, the Riverwalk is being revitalized, new Amphitheater. This is a great day for Warren."
English hopes the new buildings are a "catalyst for rebirth" in the city. Besides new educational opportunities for city pupils it means new economic opportunities for the community, she said.
Bristol in a bind
Bristol's 7.8-mill levy, which district officials had said would help the district recover from fiscal emergency, would have generated about $560,000 each year.
"We'll have our first meeting with the state's fiscal oversight commission Friday," Superintendent Rocco Nero said. "Had [the levy] passed, the cuts we need to make would not have been nearly as significant."
The state auditor's office declared the district in fiscal emergency last month, citing a predicted $785,000 deficit by the end of the current school year.
Voters rejected a 4.9-mill emergency levy this past May.
The district already has eliminated an elementary teacher, middle-school teacher, cook's position and an assistant administrator. It also increased class size, reduced the hours of the cafeteria supervisor and technology coordinator, eliminated in-school suspension, reinstated a pupil fee, eliminated field trips and increased lunch prices by 25 cents.
Now, Nero said, school officials will need to work with the state committee to come up with a viable financial recovery plan within the next 120 days. The main goal of the commission, he said, is to eliminate the debt by any means possible.
Nero said there was a small group who actively campaigned against the levy, but said overall, he believes voters are frustrated with the way schools across the state are funded, and want legislators to do something about it.
"I think people are just fed up with the system," he said. "I don't think you will find any superintendent who is happy about having to ask voters for more money."
Weathersfield defeat
Voters rejected Weathersfield schools' 9.5-mill emergency operating levy by a wide margin. It would have generated $919,360 annually for the district, which has been placed in fiscal watch by the state.
In May, voters rejected an income tax for the cash-strapped school district.
Superintendent Rocco Adduci said the board will have to determine whether to return to the ballot and for how much millage.
He expects busing to be the first victim of the budget ax. By eliminating busing for students in grades nine through 12 and for younger pupils who live inside a two-mile radius of the schools, the district would save about $200,000, Adduci said. A $100 per year, per pupil activity fee is another possibility.
The district is losing money from reduced property taxes. District officials also have cited increasing special education services and health insurance costs.
In Hubbard
Hubbard voters turned down a levy that would have generated more than $480,000 to make needed repairs to the Hubbard Community Pool. The facility, which opened in 1975, hasn't had any significant work done since then, and is in need of repairs to the roof, lighting and other systems. Though the pool is open to the community, it is operated and maintained by the school district.
"I'm very disappointed with how the vote turned out," said Superintendent James Herrholtz. "I don't know yet what we will do. We will reconvene the pool committee and talk about the situation. Obviously, we have another opportunity in March."
In the meantime, he said, the committee will have to consider all available options, including closing the pool.
"We'll just have to regroup and do what we can," he said.
Voters approved school issues in the Champion, Maplewood and Mathews school districts.
denise.dick@vindy.com
slshaulis@vindy.com