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Boardman Local Schools seeks 3.9-mill, 3-year renewal levy
BOARDMAN
Boardman voters will see a 3.9-mill emergency three-year renewal levy, which would generate $3.1 million annually for the school district, on the ballot when they head to the polls in November.
Superintendent Frank Lazzeri said that though the school district promised voters the original levy would be needed only through 2015, which is when it is set to expire, changes to state tax policies changed the district’s financial situation.
But, “If the state doesn’t hurt us with anything else, our budget will be balanced through 2018,” he said.
Lazzeri said it is of “utmost importance” that voters approve the renewal.
“If it didn’t pass, we’d have to make some major cuts,” Lazzeri said.
Lazzeri said he did not know where those cuts would be made, but he highlighted the issue of increasing class sizes, saying that some elementary schools have classes with as many as 30 students.
The original 3.9-mill three-year levy passed in November 2012, the first new school levy voters had approved since 2003. The effective rate of the levy has not changed.
The levy costs the owner of a $100,000 home about $120 per year, which would not change if the renewal passes.
Funds from the levy go toward day-to-day operations, Lazzeri said, citing textbooks, heating and lighting bills, teachers’ salaries, computers and materials that allow the district to comply with state directives as examples of how the money is spent.
In fiscal year 2013, teachers’ average annual salary was $53,188, according to Ohio Department of Education data.
Lazzeri said the district has been operating under a pay freeze for the past several years, but that teachers will get a 1 percent increase next year, and the year after that.
“We don’t have the technology, so we have to upgrade our technology,” Lazzeri said of the state mandate that in the next couple of years, students start doing some state tests on computers.
“The state requires certain things of schools, and they don’t give you the dollars to do them,” he said.
The school district is opting to put the renewal on the ballot early.
If it fails, the school district would have two more chances to put it on the ballot in next year’s elections. If it passes, it would extend the levy that was originally supposed to expire in November 2015 to 2018.
Lazzeri said he is confident voters will approve the renewal, especially in light of the recently released state report card, which said Boardman schools met all standards and got a “B” in the performance-index area.
“We’re doing a lot of things right, and our taxpayers see that, and they have given us a vote of confidence on past renewals,” he said. “We’re thrilled we have a supportive community.”
The board of education voted to approve appropriations totaling $58,761,508 for fiscal year 2015, up from $56,994,672 for fiscal year 2014.