Board stresses need for levy
By ELISE FRANCO
Board members worry about financial hurdles ahead if the school levy doesn’t pass.
AUSTINTOWN — The board of education said Monday that the district won’t be able to operate effectively without the passage Nov. 4 of a 4.9-mill school levy.
The board had a work session before its regular meeting to discuss a proposed five-year forecast put together by Treasurer Barb Kliner.
The forecast is based on 4.4 of the 4.9 mills the district would receive if the levy is approved by voters.
Because of decreasing revenue and increasing expenses over the next five years, Kliner said passing the levy is the only way to keep the Austintown schools out of financial crisis. The measure would bring $2,959,731 annually into the district.
Kliner explained the district spent $236,000 more than it received in fiscal year 2008 — and used money carried over from past years to stay in the black.
Now, Kliner said, the 2009-10 fiscal year will put Austintown more than $2.5 million in the red without the new money.
“The deficit will continue to grow,” Kliner said. “It’ll be enough to cover payroll, and then we’ll have nothing left.”
She said if the levy fails, the district will do what’s necessary and plan a way to get through the next few years.
Her fear, as well as that of the board, is that a failing levy will cause economic hardship for the schools as well as the community.
“You’ve heard it directly and indirectly,” board President David Ritchie said. “It’s very crucial. We need everyone’s support.”
Superintendent Doug Heuer said the district will go into deficit without the levy passage. He said it will be forced to go through a state performance audit to discuss necessary cuts — much the same way Youngstown city schools recently did.
“Many of our programs that exceed state standards will have to be cut back,” Heuer said. “They will become state minimums.”
He said he doesn’t want to see the quality of education suffer.
The five-year levy will cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $150 a year, according to the school district.
In other business, Edmond Kraft, 58, of Niles, was presented with his Veterans Diploma.
The former Marine attended Austintown Fitch High School and would have graduated in 1969 but decided to join the Marine Corps instead.
Kraft said that in 1985, after a discussion with one of his daughters about dropping out of school, he took night classes to earn his General Educational Development certificate.
“My daughter wanted to quit school,” he said. “She told me I quit, so she could too.”
Kraft said that conversation helped him take the steps to go back to school.
“It just came closed circle,” he said. “It was something I always wanted to do.”
Board member Louis Chine said Kraft would have been a member of his own graduating class in 1969.
“It takes a special person to do what you did for our country and come back to get your diploma,” he said.
Kraft has received the Marine Corps National Defense Service Medal and the Vietnam Service Medal for service to the country.
efranco@vindy.com