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Poland asks community to pass renewal levy
By Kalea Hall
POLAND
A renewal 2.9-mill levy will be on the May ballot for Poland voters to raise more than $1 million for the school district.
Without those funds, the district would take a step backward, schools Superintendent David Janofa said.
“The importance of it is, we worked so hard the last couple of years to get the levy passed that was originally passed in 2012. To [then] have this 2.9-mill levy go down as a renewal, being it is the smallest we have, it would be a significant step back,” Janofa said.
In November 2012, district voters approved a 5.9-mill emergency levy that generates more than $2 million annually. It was the fourth attempt at asking for new levy money.
If the 2.9-mill, five-year renewal levy, first passed in 1981 and generating $1,068,055 annually, does not pass, the board of education would have to “take a look at the entire operation,” to see how to make up for the lost funds, Janofa said.
The levy costs the owner of a $100,000 home $88.81 annually.
Janofa is optimistic that the renewal levy will win voters’ favor.
“I think in the last 18 months [the district has shown] that we are being a good steward to taxpayer dollars,” Janofa said. “We are getting prepared to start some district strategic planning.”
In coming weeks, the Ohio School Boards Association will sit down with the Poland Board of Education to discuss all district operations.
One of the topics is whether the district should downsize the number of buildings it uses. The district operates with four elementary schools, a middle school and a high school.
“We have to make sure we are doing what we can to show we are running the most efficient operation,” Janofa said.
The district and the Poland Education Association recently agreed on a new contract for 130 teachers.
Teachers will receive a base raise of 0.5-percent for half of the first year, then 0.75 percent the second year and 0.5 percent the third year.
Teachers in their 14th to 16th, 18th to 20th, or 21st to 26th years of employment in the district and any year over the 28th will receive a $394 stipend for that year to compensate for their step increases having been frozen. About 40 teachers are included in that group.
Under the new pact, teachers also will have to pay 10 percent of their health care premium costs — a 5 percent increase.
Other levies the district has are: a 3.6-mill operating levy up for renewal in 2016, a 6.7-mill operating levy up for renewal in 2018 and a 1-mill permanent-improvement levy up for renewal in 2017. The 5.9-mill operating levy passed in 2012 is up for renewal in 2017, as well.