Small school districts confront big challenges

School district consolidations are rare, the education department said.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
BRISTOLVILLE -- Many school districts across the state wrestle with the challenges of financing education, but there are challenges unique to Trumbull County's smaller districts, officials say.
Bristol Superintendent Rocco Nero said challenges are different for small school districts. The state auditor's office declared the Bristol district in fiscal emergency last month, citing a projected deficit by the end of the school year. A commission was appointed to oversee the district's finances.
"We don't have a lot of people to go to to ask for more revenue," he said. "A mill only generates so much. We have to ask for more money to make it up."
Voters turned down a levy on the November ballot.
Compounding the problem for the district is a lack of big businesses in the Bristolville and West Farmington communities.
"We're relying solely on taxpayers," Nero said.
Southington Superintendent William Pfahler said that when he was appointed to the post in 1994, there was talk of smaller districts' merging.
"No one was interested," he said.
About 55 students graduate each year from the district.
"We think of the opportunities in a small district of -- like they say in the MasterCard commercial -- it's priceless," Pfahler said.
All have challenges
J.C. Benton, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Education, said consolidation of school districts is rare. There was a movement toward consolidation in the 1950s, he said.
He doesn't think small districts have more challenges; they're just different.
"All districts have challenges," Benton said.
William Wenger, a consultant for the Ohio Department of Education who chairs the fiscal commission appointed to oversee Bristol's finances, agrees.
"Larger districts as well as small districts have fiscal difficulties," Wenger said.
He pointed out that the East Cleveland City is in fiscal emergency and Youngstown city school district also was in fiscal emergency. Both are large districts.
Bristol is one of five districts, along with Lordstown, under the fiscal-emergency declaration.
Lordstown's situation is a little different. Although it's been in fiscal emergency since 2000, based on its property valuation, the state considers it a wealthy district and determines its allocation accordingly, said Superintendent Douglas Shamp.
General Motors in Lordstown contributes to the district's high property valuation even though it was granted a tax abatement on its expansion.
The company agreed in 2001 to a 75 percent abatement from the school district while the county and village granted the company a 100 percent abatement on the expansion.
The effect of tax abatements on school districts' valuations is one of the items under review by the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Financing Student Success appointed earlier this year by Gov. Bob Taft.
The panel, consisting of education, business and government leaders, is charged with making recommendations for reforming the state's school funding system. It's expected to make a report next year.
Comparison difficult
Shamp said that as a small district, Lordstown can't afford to hire some positions as full-time such as technology coordinator or a psychologist.
Tom Radabaugh, treasurer of McDonald schools, points out that although there are many small districts in the county, each is unique -- making apples-to-apples comparisons difficult.
Most of that district's money, about 78 percent, comes from the state because the district doesn't have a high property valuation. The district is about 1.5 square miles.
Like Bristol, the McDonald district doesn't have much industry. It's mostly residential. In McDonald, a mill generates only $51,000.
"That barely supports a starting teacher," Radabaugh said.
But with so much reliance on the state, "we have to pretty much take what the state gives us," he said.
Radabaugh believes small districts do a good job on a dollar-for-dollar, per-pupil basis.
Although the Joseph Badger School District is financially solvent, its superintendent says it deals with some of the same small-district funding challenges. Voters turned down a renewal levy earlier this month that is expected to go on the March primary for a second try.
"I think we have less flexibility," said Dr. David Bair.
'Bare bones'
Badger doesn't have the special programs that a larger district might have and there aren't as many personnel. Besides superintendent, Bair also performs the duties of curriculum, human resources and professional development director. Some larger districts have individuals in each of those posts.
"We're already pretty bare bones," Bair said.
Like Bristol and McDonald, the Badger district isn't in an industrial setting. It relies on state money and local tax dollars.
"That's why with the equity and financing in education in Ohio, districts like ours get hurt," he said. "The state right now is in a state of flux."
State funding keeps changing. And even as changes occur in the state funding system, school districts must develop five-year financial forecasts, he said.
"That's what we're faced with, and we're really at their mercy," Bair said.
With 75 percent to 80 percent of the district's budget devoted to personnel, that's where any required cuts would likely be made. But in a smaller district, there's less flexibility in how that may be done and still meet state mandates for curriculum, he said.
"A larger district might have eight high school science teachers," Bair said. "I've got two."
denise.dick@vindy.com