Vouchers get blame for levy in Liberty

By John w. Goodwin jr.

School district voters will face a 9.9-mill emergency tax issue on the May ballot.

LIBERTY — School officials blame a state voucher program for the need to place a tax levy on the May ballot.

The district will be asking for an emergency 9.9-mill, 10-year fixed levy generating $2,291,362 annually.

The levy would cost homeowners with a house valued at $100,000 about $300 more per year, according to reports.

Superintendent Mark Lucas said the state’s Education Choice Scholarship program is responsible. That program offers tuition vouchers for children in academically troubled public schools to attend private schools.

E.J. Blott Elementary School had been in academic watch for two years, making pupils there eligible for the voucher program in 2007-08, but it has moved up to continuous improvement.

According to school officials, 35 pupils entered the system from private schools in February 2007 and April 2007. All 35 pupils withdrew from the district at the end of the school year, taking the voucher and funds that would normally go to Liberty schools to parochial and private schools.

Lucas said the district will lose those funds each year until those students graduate high school.

“It appears the additional hardship of the vouchers has accelerated the need for new money by two to three years,” said Lucas.

“This was a one-year deal that hit Liberty, and you pay for it for the next 12 to 13 years.”

According to figures released from the district, the total voucher-related loss to the district in 2008 was $628,812. The calculated loss in 2009 is $701,416. School officials say the total loss by 2015, with all variables remaining constant, will be $5.5 million and more than $8 million by 2021.

School Treasurer Tracy Obermiyer said without additional funds the district will likely enter into fiscal caution or fiscal emergency. State officials, she said, could assume basic control of financial matters in the district.

Rumors that board members wanted to join another school district had surfaced, but Board Member Gloria Lang said those rumors are not true.

“No one has ever made the statement that we are joining or consolidating with anyone. I have made the statement that we are looking at sharing services. The board is just looking for a lot of answers that nobody has,” said Lang.

The board, according to Lang, has done what it can do to minimize costs. She said the district operates with 20 fewer teachers than a district of comparable size. The district has also cut building budgets for supplies by 25 percent, eliminated the new technology budget and eliminated the purchase of new textbooks all in the 2008-2009 school year to save money.

“Someone could say that we are not doing anything, but yes we are making changes,” said Lang.