School board to seek levy

The board also agreed to provide busing for a latchkey program.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- The Salem Board of Education has taken the first step toward placing a levy before voters.
The board voted unanimously during a special meeting Friday to determine the millage needed to raise $1.3 million a year. The levy would run for five years.
"This is the same levy that we had on in November," district Treasurer Alice Gunning said.
Some 54 percent of the voters defeated a 4.3-mill, five-year levy in November. The millage rate may change depending on changes in property value in the district.
Gunning said the tax, if approved, would be collected for the first time in 2007.
The $1.3 million was the estimated amount of the district's deficit last fall. Since then, the district eliminated busing for most students and made other cuts.
Gunning said that she was not sure of the total dollar amount of cuts. The board plans to close older buildings and consolidate classes this summer.
The proposed levy, she said, would eventually wipe out the expected deficit and put the district back in the black.
The board will meet at 4 p.m. Jan. 30 to vote to formally place the levy on the ballot.
Labor talks
Superintendent Stephen Larcomb said that he will meet at 4:30 p.m. Jan. 24 with Ohio Association of Public School Employees Local 215, which rejected the district's proposal earlier this week. The group represents about 90 classified workers.
Larcomb will also be negotiating from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 23 and 30 with the Salem Education Association, which represents about 160 teachers.
The board also approved a policy to provide transportation for district children to latchkey programs before or after school. State licensed care centers will pay the district $30 an hour to transport children. The board approved its first agreement with the Lincoln Learning Center.
wilkinson@vindy.com