Marysville’s Board of Education is hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst in regard to its upcoming levy attempt.
Hoping to convince voters to approve the five-year emergency operating levy in May, the board made a decision to reduce the amount of the ask at Thursday’s meeting. Later in the meeting, the board prepared a series of potential cuts to be enacted if the levy fails.
District Treasurer Todd Johnson proposed that the original 9.9-mill levy request, approved last month, be reduced to 8.4 mills. Johnson said pushback from residents factored in to the adjustment, as inflation and recent increases to resident tax bills left some uneasy about original millage.
“I think we’ve heard loud and clear, even from some of our staunchest supporters, that, one, 9.9 is a large ask… and, two, that the timing is difficult,” Johnson said. “On the flip side of that, I don’t know there’s ever a good time for a levy.”
The 9.9-mill levy would have generated $10.8 million annually, while the 8.4-mill version will collect $9.6 million if approved. Johnson said the larger levy would have allowed the district to guarantee it would not need new money for at least four years. While he believes the district can still operate for four years without additional funding if the 8.4-mill levy is approved, he stopped short of making that a promise.
Johnson said the decision to essentially cut $1 million annually from the levy request boiled down to its impact on individual residents. The 9.9-mill option would have cost the owner of a $100,000 home $346 annually, while the 8.4-mill version will reduce that number to $294 – a $52 savings per $100,000 of home valuation.
District officials continue to present evidence that they have been good stewards of public money in the past, noting that it has been 15 years since the district has passed a levy for new operating money. Johnson’s report to the board noted that the district report card puts Marysville in the top 20% of Ohio districts in terms of performance, while spending $11,700 per pupil per year, 13% lower than the state average.
Johnson said Marysville’s collected effective millage sits at 20.171, barely above the state’s mandatory minimum of 20 mills. Johnson said Marysville’s median annual household income has increased 28%, to $102,000, meaning the district has one of the lowest tax burdens of any district in the state. The treasurer said Marysville operates under the 16th lowest tax effort in the state, a figure that looks at school tax burden compared to wealth in each of the state’s 600-plus districts.
“I think if they do their homework they’ll see this as a great investment in their community, in their children, in their future,” Board member Dick Smith said. “Hopefully in May we’ll get good news.”
If the community does not deliver good news in May, the board will return to the ballot in November, but cost-saving measures will be enacted immediately.
The board voted unanimously to approve a contingency plan, which will create $2 million in savings through a series of measures, which will be felt across the district.
“This is never a conversation any of us want to have,” Board President Sue Devine said. “… But it’s our job.”
The most notable component of the plan will be a hiring freeze. Resigning or retiring teachers will not be replaced and no new staff members will be added to deal with enrollment growth that is adding roughly 100 students per year across the district.
“If we freeze teachers, what that means is class sizes across the district, at all levels, will get larger,” Smith said. “There is no way around that.”
Coupled with the hiring freeze would be the potential for course and program eliminations and all-day, every-day kindergarten could be at risk.
The district would also eliminate its TRI Academy, which gives individualized attention to credit deficient students in order to get them back on track for graduation. Operating out of the former East Elementary building, the program has shown success in connecting with students who do not succeed in a traditional classroom environment.
But with an administrator, three teachers and two aides, the academy operates at an 11-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio, which is the lowest in the district.
Board member Jermaine Ferguson said the elimination of TRI Academy will have real impacts on those students and “is not conducive to their likelihood of having a successful life.”
Smith echoed that sentiment.
“The toughest part of our decision is that those students that are most at risk are in programs that are now most at risk,” he said.
Also part of the cost-saving plan is the elimination of school funded assistant coaches/advisors/directors for extracurricular and co-curricular programs. School funded travel and field trips for those programs will also be eliminated.
Smith noted that in previous levy campaigns, years ago, bussing was always eliminated after a levy failure to save money. He asked why that was not included in this list of cuts.
Johnson said the state gives a reimbursement on transportations costs that is dependent on the number of students riding the bus, meaning that reducing transportation options would not create a savings for the district.
Ferguson said that some in the district might see the contingency plan as some sort of threat ahead of the levy, but the board is tasked with trying to provide the best educational opportunity possible with available funding. He said the board toiled over the plans and tried to determine the best path in the wake of a levy failure.
“This is the best of the worst options,” Ferguson said. “I want everyone to know that we wrestled over this.”