WEATHERSFIELD SCHOOLS District enlists pupils to spread word on levy

Loss of revenue and increased cost of services prompted the levy effort.
By MARY SMITH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MINERAL RIDGE -- A 9.5-mill emergency operating levy for five years would generate $919,360 annually to help pay for the operation of Weathersfield School District, which has been placed on fiscal watch by the state department of education.
A 1-mill income tax on the May ballot failed, so the school board returned to the more traditional emergency levy on property taxes. The issue appears on the Nov. 4 ballot.
Fliers promoting the levy are to be distributed Nov. 1 between 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.
An estimated 50 to 60 pupils and parents will meet at the high school cafeteria, and the pupils will be driven by parents and teachers to every home in Mineral Ridge, where the fliers will be placed in doors. The pupils have been asked to dress in black and orange, the Mineral Ridge school colors.
Superintendent Rocco Adduci expects it will take the pupils three hours to cover the district. A booster organization will provide pizza for the volunteers at the school afterward.
Reasons for levy
The levy request was prompted by the loss of $621,000 in personal property taxes from a reduced tax valuation for RMI Titanium Inc. Other businesses have started paying a lower inventory tax, resulting in an additional loss for the district of $30,000 a year.
The cost of mandatory special education services has increased $225,000 since 1997-98, and health insurance has increased 40 percent to a cost of $265,000 a year, district officials have said.
Adduci noted that the board has decided controversial issues this past year, including the cuts already in place to save money. The board closed school for a day during the SARS scare after some band pupils took a weekend bus trip to Toronto, Canada, where the disease was reported spreading at the time.
Adduci said the board's decision-making process takes into account what will ultimately be best for district pupils.
The district has undertaken several additional measures to try to offset the losses, including applying for a state catastrophic grant, which was rejected by the state.
Effects of levy
If the levy passes, the owner of a $75,000 house will pay an increase of $249.37 a year; a $100,000 house, $332.50 a year; and a $125,000 house, $498.75 a year.
If it fails, proposed cuts include eliminating busing within 2 miles of a school building; cutting six bus drivers, a bus mechanic and one high school cafeteria worker; and implementing a $100 one-time activity fee, regardless of the number of activities, to participate in football, basketball, baseball/softball, track/cross country, volleyball, cheerleading, band, and dance line/flag line.
Also on the cut list are several staff positions at the elementary, middle and high school levels and elimination of the English honors program, Spanish IV, home economics, business, additional computer classes for credit, Industrial Technology Career Academy and other programs.