Voters in Lakeview, Howland, Lordstown to see school issues

October 17, 2014 at 12:00a.m.

Additional school levies are on the ballot this November for Lakeview and Lordstown while a renewal levy will be before voters in the Howland Local School District.

At Lakeview, the board of education has submitted a $23.8 million bond issue for construction of a new pre-kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school building. The figure represents the local share of the $33 million projected cost with the state picking up the balance of more than $9 million. Two levies totaling 5.05 mills finance the district’s cost with 4.55 mills covering the project and a state-required issue of 0.50 mills to cover maintenance expenditures.

Superintendent Robert Wilson said the new facility would replace 87-year- old Lakeview Elementary School and Lakeview Middle School, which was built in 1978. Wilson said both have scored poorly in reviews by the Ohio School Facilities Commission.

“Our old buildings are in bad shape and taking an unusually high percentage of money for repairs,” Wilson said. “This has been our strategic plan for 10 years and is not spur-of-the-moment.”

If approved, the issue also would pay for refurbishing the district athletic facilities, which Wilson said are not compliant with requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

At Lordstown, Superintendent Terry Armstrong said the district has no choice but to submit a 5.5-mill additional levy to generate more than $540,000 yearly. Lordstown does not have a permanent improvement levy that would pay for many of the necessities, such as recent cooling-unit repairs that it has to finance through its general fund. Voters rejected two permanent improvement issues in the last five years.

“We haven’t had any new millage since 2001,” the superintendent said.

Armstrong said the district has reduced its staffing to only three administrators while teachers have made significant sacrifices.

“Our teachers have had no [pay] raises in six years, and they contribute 10 percent of their insurance premiums,” Armstrong said. “In recent years, we’ve also cut $300,000 in teaching and supplemental positions.”

Armstrong said submission of the levy became inevitable after the village’s planning and zoning commission rejected a zone change that would have permitted construction of a 57-acre natural-gas-fired power plant in Lordstown. “Had that gone through, we wouldn’t have needed both pots of money,” the superintendent said. “There would have been no need for the levy.”

With 540 students and 39 teachers, Lordstown is the second-smallest school district in Trumbull County.

In Howland, voters historically have approved renewal of a 4.1-mill school levy that will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot. The millage generates $2.5 million annually for 10 years.

“With this renewal, the district will maintain current levels of educational programming, extracurricular activities and day-to-day operations,” said Superintendent John Sheets. The superintendent said the levy originally was passed in 1990 and has been renewed four times.

Sheets said the levy represents 9 percent of the district’s annual daily operating funds.