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Poland school officials cmull next move after defeat of bond issue and levy
POLAND
After the resounding defeat at the polls of a proposed bond issue and tax levy to build a new campus-style school, school district officials now are considering their next move.
“The board of education placed the 4.5 [-mill] bond levy issue before voters to decide if a new [K–8th-grade] state-of-the-art building would become a reality for the students in this district. We are very disappointed the ballot issue was defeated,” school board President Elinor Zedaker said in a statement.
“However, moving forward, the board will continue with our contingency plan that includes a review of many replacement and repair needs the state has identified in the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission report,” she said.
The school district previously entered into a partnership with the OFCC, which would pay 19 percent of the estimated $35 million cost of the proposed facility. The district can go back to the ballot two more times – in March and November – to take advantage of the state partnership and seek authorization of a bond issue and tax levy to raise the local share of the project cost.
That option, Superintendent David Janofa said, could represent a challenge, considering the response to the ballot measure in this year’s general election; On Tuesday, unofficial but final results from the Mahoning County Board of Elections showed that 62 percent of Poland voters were against it.
Reflecting on possible explanations for that response, Janofa said that the amount of money residents were asked to contribute, the 34-year length of the bond repayment period and opposition to the planned demolition of old buildings (which the school board confirmed in an announcement last week) likely were factors. The district likely will reach out to voters to get a better idea of why people voted against the proposal, he said.
At issue, school district officials say, is that the underlying problem – infrastructure failures at the district’s school buildings – remains. Between July 2014 and September of this year, the district spent roughly $500,000 on infrastructure repairs; district officials say that much more remains to be done.
“Whether you want to keep and repair them, or whether you want to build new – wherever you stand on the issue, I think people understand that there are things that need to be done to the buildings,” Janofa said. “I think it’s very clear that we can’t do nothing.”
Whatever the board decides, the district will continue to invest in the buildings as needed, Janofa said.
“We’re going to continue spending money on the old buildings to maintain them. We’re not in a position right now, financially, to replace systems that ultimately need to be done, but we will certainly continue to maintain them with the resources we have available,” he said.
Another option Janofa identified is a levy to raise funds for repair and replacement projects.
“I think there’s really two things that can be done: a permanent improvement levy to start fixing some of these issues, or put the bond issue up,” he said.
In the meantime, the school district will move forward with its “right-sizing” effort, which reduces the number of school buildings in use, in response to declining enrollment. Consolidation of schools began this year, with the elimination of North as an elementary school and with grade-level changes at Dobbins and Union.
“The whole idea is, you have too many facilities. To go from six to two – to me, it’s sensible. You’re reducing your overall cost, not just currently, but down the road,” said Janofa, explaining his response to questions from residents about why the district would build a new school if enrollment is down.
“Ultimately getting to two facilities, I think, is financially a prudent move,” he said.
The board will meet this month to review options.
“I know one thing: the folks of Poland are passionate about their community, and they’re passionate about education,” Janofa said. “We need to educate our folks better than what we did. One of the issues I think we can hang our hat on, regardless of how you felt relative to the vote ... [is that] people understand the message that something with our buildings needs to be done.”