Levy sought for Mathews schools

January 18, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

VIENNA

The Mathews Local Board of Education has approved placing a 2-mill permanent improvement levy on the May primary ballot.

The board took the action at a recent meeting.

Mathews voters have not responded favorably to recent district levy requests. The same measure was defeated last November. At the time, parents who supported the levy accused the board of failing to adequately publicize why the school district needs the revenue of more than $307,000 that the levy would generate.

Voters also had rejected a proposed $22.5 million bond issue for new-school construction in 2009. The margins of defeat for both issues were nearly identical — more than 440 votes out of 2,900.

The latest permanent improvement levy has the same purpose as the previous issue. It would cover the costs of improvements to Mathews High School necessitated by adding seventh- and eighth-graders to the building from Neal Middle School after it closes at the end of the current school year.

Neal also poses other issues for the board, which has scheduled an executive session in February to discuss the fate of the building’s teaching and nonteaching employees.

Superintendent Lee Seiple has submitted a plan to eliminate $650,000 in projected deficit spending in two years, and part of the plan calls for eliminating the jobs of some of the Neal employees.

Mathews Treasurer Teri Andrika said the board will discuss those positions “at length” Feb. 2. The next regular meeting is Feb. 16.