Austintown district sees $3.5M deficit for next school year

By Ed Runyan

The board heard an explanation of the district’s new elementary math curriculum.

AUSTINTOWN — The Austintown school district is projecting a $3.5 million deficit for next school year, even after closing Davis Elementary School at the end of this school year and eliminating nine teaching positions through attrition.

Board members learned Thursday that a $3.5 million deficit is the equivalent of 5.7 mills in property tax, Treasurer Barb Kliner explained. There was no discussion, however, about putting a levy on the November ballot.

At Tuesday’s meeting, board president Dr. David Ritchey said the board eventually will ask voters for a new levy in November. The size of the levy has not been disclosed.

The board eliminated one cost-cutting measure at Tuesday’s meeting. By removing the district’s bus drivers and mechanics from a previously authorized reduction-in-force list, the board was saying that it would not cut busing back to state-mandated minimums, said Vince Colaluca, the district’s director of instruction.

The board also decided Tuesday to eliminate a measure that would have increased revenue — open enrollment.

In making her budget projections, Kliner estimated the district will see a reduction of about $1 million in revenue next year because of the state’s phase-out of personal tangible property taxes paid by businesses and a $1.3 million increase in purchased services, like electricity and natural gas.

She projects a decrease of $400,000 in employee salaries, but a $600,000 increase in their retirement and insurance benefits.

She anticipates ending this year with a balance of $1.7 million.

By also approving Superintendent Doug Heuer’s staffing plan for next school year that calls for nine fewer teachers, the board may be able to take all its teachers off a reduction-in-force list it approved last month, Colaluca said.

Heuer will meet with Davis Elementary teachers soon to determine their placements for next year.

Meanwhile, board members heard a presentation from members of the district math teachers’ committee on the Math Investigations curriculum the district put in place in many kindergarten-through-fifth-grade classrooms this year.

Parents have complained often about the new curriculum this year, board members said.

Carol Kuchta, an Austintown Middle School math teacher, said that it has taken teachers some time to adjust to the new style of math education but that the move was the right one.

Colaluca said there were several forms of assistance that didn’t make it home to many parents, such as a letter and a worksheet that would have helped parents understand how to help their children with their math homework.

To combat the problem, the district had several “math nights” at the school to answer questions. Kuchta also has secured grants that will provide additional materials to help parents, and help will be available on the school district Web site before next school year, officials said.

Shari Lewis of the Mahoning County Educational Service Center explained that Math Investigations helps pupils learn math in ways that focus on problem-solving skills and cooperation among pupils instead of memorization.

runyan@vindy.com