BRISTOL SCHOOL DISTRICT Board OKs lower levy request

Voters last week rejected a levy that would have raised $500,000 annually.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
BRISTOLVILLE -- The Bristol school district will ask voters again to pass a levy to support the district in November.
At a joint meeting Monday between the school board and members of the state commission appointed to oversee district finances, school board members passed a motion to place a levy on the November ballot, said Maggie Berwald, board president.
The board will ask for a levy to raise $400,000 annually. The Trumbull County Auditor's office will determine the exact millage necessary to raise that amount. Tax issues must be submitted to the county elections board by Aug. 19.
The 6.9-mill levy rejected last week by voters would have raised $500,000. The board will submit a lower levy request in November and hope voters will pass the tax issue.
"We've gotten so little support from the community, and the feeling among the board and the state commission is that we really have to get some money freed up," Berwald said.
Fiscal emergency
The district has been in state declared fiscal emergency since last October and last week's rejection was the fourth time district voters turned down levy attempts.
Unofficial vote totals show 869 people supporting the levy and 596 opposed.
"I don't really know what the community expects us to do," Berwald said.
The district already has closed Farmington Elementary School, laid off teachers and staff, and instituted pay-to-participate activities.
"We just don't have anything left to cut," she said.
Berwald believes some community members may not realize that dissolution of the district is a possibility.
Under Ohio law, if a district can't comply operating standards, the state education board can revoke its charter and dissolve the district. State law says territory of that district would then be allocated to one or more adjoining districts by the state board.
There are other procedures to dissolve a school district that involve a county educational service center or voter petition drive.