JACKSON-MILTON SCHOOLS Committee designs flier to push levy

Losing pupils to open enrollment has cost the district, one official said.
By SEAN BARRON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NORTH JACKSON -- Over the next few days, about 1,500 area residents will start seeing an extra flier in their mailboxes, and Jackson-Milton school board officials hope those who receive them will do more than just read them.
The fliers, paid for by the Jackson-Milton levy committee, are designed to remind residents to support the 2.8-mill five-year emergency renewal levy on the March 2 ballot, Superintendent Buck Palmer said at Thursday's board of education meeting. They feature overlapping portions of several news articles touting many of the district's recent sports triumphs and other successes.
The levy would bring to the district about $383,088 annually to go toward general operating expenses and would not increase taxes, Treasurer John Zinger stressed. Someone who owns a $100,000 home would pay about $86 a year; a resident owning a $50,000 home would pay around $43 annually, Zinger added.
Effect of open enrollment
Since September, open enrollment has contributed to the district's losing general fund money, Palmer said. So far this school year, about 65 pupils have left Jackson-Milton for Newton Falls, Lordstown, Austintown, Mineral Ridge and other neighboring districts, costing Jackson-Milton about $240,000, he noted.
To try to reverse the financial losses as a result of open enrollment, school officials plan to post four 4-foot-by-4-foot signs beginning in March near busy township intersections where they will be easily visible. Palmer said he hopes the signs will "get the word out" by encouraging more parents to use open enrollment to send their child to Jackson-Milton. Open enrollment has brought in about 12 pupils so far this year, Palmer added.