Ideas vary on how to get school levy passed

Ideas vary on how to get school levy passed

One board member wants to ask top administrators for a 10 percent pay cut.

By HAROLD GWIN

VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN —¬†Get top administrators to take a pay cut, cut central office personnel, create a budget truly reflective of the economic climate — all suggestions on how the city school district can persuade voters to support a 9.5-mill tax levy when it comes up again.

Youngstown voters turned down the five-year emergency levy for the third time Tuesday, although the margin of defeat continues to narrow.

School officials have already said the levy will be on the ballot again in November. The state fiscal oversight commission overseeing district spending since the state placed Youngstown under fiscal emergency in November 2006 has said repeatedly that the district needs an influx of additional revenue to recover from a $15 million budget deficit incurred last year.

The $5.2 million per year the levy would generate would help the district return to solvency by 2011, when combined with a series of cutbacks that, by the end of fiscal 2009, will have reduced annual spending by about $26 million.

Youngstown hasn’t had a new operating levy passed since 1987 and vocal opponents of the 9.5-mill plan who have stood up and publicly announced their opposition — as well as some new members of the school board — have some suggestions on what the district might consider to get this one on the books.

“We still don’t have the information we asked for,” said Delores Womack of East Boston Avenue, chairwoman of a group calling itself the Citizens’ Action Committee Against the Levy. Specifically, that’s data on whose job got cut, when it was cut and what savings are realized in salary and fringe benefit reductions as a result, she said.

The district also needs to explain why it needs more money if it is making the substantial cuts it has outlined, Womack said.

“We’re going to say ‘no’ until they create a budget that accurately reflects the economic reality of this city,” she said.

Michael Murphy, a newly elected board member, said the biggest criticism he is hearing is that the top administration isn’t being affected by the cutbacks.

However, there have been cuts in the administrative ranks and more are planned. Administrators have agreed to a three-year wage freeze and are picking up 10 percent of their health-care premiums.

Murphy said he will approach the board about asking the top administrators to also take a 10 percent pay cut. That would show the public that the administrators are really committed to helping the district recover, he said.

Not everyone is sure that’s a good idea.

Richard Atkinson, another new board member elected in November, said the district runs the risk of losing administrators who may decide to look for work elsewhere if their pay is cut.

A better way to win voter support is to educate them on the improvements the city schools have been making academically, Atkinson said, citing growth in graduation rates and academic advances as examples.

“Once they see you’ve got a good product, they’ll support it,” he said.

Jennifer Lewis of Indianola Avenue, a longtime critic of the district administration, said there are still too many central office people and a 10 percent pay cut for the superintendent might be effective. That money could be diverted to hire a tutor to spend time in one of the city schools performing poorly in reading or math, she said.

Lewis also recommended that the fiscal oversight commission hold an evening meeting and invite the public to suggest what needs to be done to help make the district solvent. The commission, which meets monthly, usually convenes at 11 a.m. — an inconvenient time for many, she said.

Anthony Catale, the third new board member elected in November, ran on a fiscal responsibility platform and said he thinks the district is “heading in the right direction” with its latest round of $7 million in cuts announced for next school year.

Still, that plan should have been ready to present to the public on the same day that the state released a district performance audit Feb. 7 suggesting how spending could be cut by $17 million a year, Catale said. Youngstown’s next cutback plan wasn’t announced until Feb. 27, giving board members little time to digest it and get the word out to the public before Tuesday’s primary, he said.

“I’m very, very pleased with the cuts proposed for next year,” he said, adding that the district will still be looking for more.

Dr. Wendy Webb, superintendent, has said that cutting deeper and deeper into the school budget is an increasingly difficult task as priorities must be addressed and re-addressed. It’s easy to say cuts should be made but difficult to decide where they should be made, she said. The process takes a lot of time and diverts attention from the district’s efforts to improve academically, she said.

gwin@vindy.com