School Levies

[BUCKEYE MICKEY]

Hi all, want some info. Our school levy didn't pass. They are cutting extra circular activities (sports, band, clubs, all of it) For those who have had this happen what did you do?
My DD starts 7th grade and she is so upset she will not be able to play sports. They are talking about a fundraiser ($400,000 worth!!). I've also heard of pay to play, and of course putting another levy on the November ballot. The thing is if the levy doesn't pass in Nov. Teachers will be cut. We haven't replaced 11 teachers in 2 years that have retired/ quit.

Any ideas.

 

[Towncrier]

Our levy failed a couple of years ago and the school cut all busing to the high school and instituted pay-to-play for sports, clubs, and band. They also eliminated busing for students who lived less than 1/2 mile from their respective school. That got the attention of the community and, miracle of miracles, the next levy passed. In the meantime, we bought my MIL's old Saturn so that the kids would have a car to drive to/from school. That was my way of insuring that the levy would pass.

I'm sorry that you and your daughter are having to face the harsh reality of tough economic times. Ohio lawmakers have been struggling for years to figure out a way to finance public education. About 25 years ago, they promised us that if we passed a law to allow a state run lottery, all of our school problems would be solved because ALL the proceeds from the sale of lottery tickets would go to the schools. And they were true to their word. Only once the lottery passed, they cut back all the school funding that was coming from other sources. And now they are trying to get us to allow casino gambling in Ohio with a similar promise. I saw someone on Jay Leno last night calling gambling a "tax on people who are down on their luck".

Sorry to hijack your thread. I wish that I had the answers for your school district. The hard fact is that pay-to-play is most likely here to stay in Ohio, even if you do manage to pass a levy in November.

 

[Chicago526]

This always drives me NUTS. People cry and moan that the schools aren't good enough, the schools need to do more, offer more, blah blah blah. And then the good taxpayers vote down a .02 cent property tax hike (this just happend here, the average homeowner's taxes would have gone up $200 year or something). And then they continue to cry and moan about the "bad" schools. You get what you pay for, you twits! You want good schools? Pay for 'em!

 

[debster812]

I don't think it's just Ohio either.

Slowly in our town, extracurriculars have been scaled back. 4 years ago, they disbanded the HS Hockey team, due to budget, and a smaller school population. A very unique solution was proposed, and accepted. Our HS and a neighboring town's HS have combined to make ONE team. It's entirely self funded by the parents and boosters. So far, they are making a HUGE success of it.

 

[BUCKEYE MICKEY]

Debster812 how is the hockey team funding itself?

I've been a part of the schools since my DD started kindergarten, I can not believe how much this is changing things and people. Our PtO is going to have to make changes to better support the school and kids. The teachers supplies are getting cut back, but you know we had one teacher at our PTO meeting this week. They seem to forget what the T in PTO is.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Move, move, move.
I would not keep my child in a failed school system. I grew up in one. It was a nightmare.
Also your property values will drop, as people move (if the school takes a bad turn), so remember that.
Everywhere we have lived we have made sure we are in a good school district. It is our #1 priority for our children.

PTA/PTO can only help so much do to RULES. It is a catch-22.

 

[sharbear]

Our school district for the most part does not have a problem passing school levies. We did not pass a levy 8 or so years ago and the school implemented a pay to play system. We have a one sport price or a all in one. I think that the one sport is $95 or all-inclusive is $165. The PTO also give $10,000 per year for the pay to play program.

Hockey is a club sport and does not receive funding from the school. The cost to particpate is $1000. They have a program and you must sell $1000 of ads or pay that amount. They also have fundraisers to pay for new uniforms or other needs.

School funding is very hard right now. I hope that your levy is passed in Nov.

 

[lisajl]

Where are you BuckeyeMickey? Ours failed here in Delaware, Oh too!
Also in Worthington, my DH works for Worthington schools.

It is difficult to get things passed due to poor managment at the administrative level.
At least that's what my friends and I think. The school system has failed us on many levels, and face it, there are some people who could not afford another tax hike.

Our school system will try again in August, I believe. Hopefully, it will pass then.

Lisa

 

[chris1gill]

This is EVERY state, not just one state.... if you want a good education, you have no choice but to pay for it... and choose wisely... we put our money where our mouth was because we were sick of the poor education our children were getting... Now they are in a private school with other like minded students and parents.. they are thriving and learning, and we are completely satisfied... it just comes at a cost if you can pay it... I feel terrible for all the parents out there that have to settle for some of the crap our states call education It is completely disgusting in some area's....

 

[bananiem]

This is EVERY state, not just one state.... if you want a good education, you have no choice but to pay for it... and choose wisely... we put our money where our mouth was because we were sick of the poor education our children were getting... Now they are in a private school with other like minded students and parents.. they are thriving and learning, and we are completely satisfied... it just comes at a cost if you can pay it... I feel terrible for all the parents out there that have to settle for some of the crap our states call education It is completely disgusting in some area's....

Private school is not always the answer. We have a very good public school district here, but the majority of parents are professionals and have degrees beyond undergrad. They expect a lot from their kids and the district and vote accordingly.

 

[Free4Life11]

Is a levy like a bond? I think we just passed a massive bond for $250 million to beef up the schools here.

 

[golfgal]

We were visiting some friends last weekend and their town failed to pass their referendum and are eliminating all "secondary" sports, basically will have football and basketball. They are eliminating all the music programs, class sizes are increasing, etc. It will probably kill their town. He is in the process of trying to hire someone and has pretty much given up on that because there won't be anything to draw people to their town if their schools aren't good.

I know our current district is facing some budget cuts but they haven't decided what will go. One thing they are considering is eliminating a music position and not doing lessons at the elementary/middle school level. 1/3 of the high school is involved in the marching band alone. 2/3's of the kids are in band. Why would you mess with that???

We already have a pay to play system and that includes all extra activities, sports, music, drama, theater, speech, etc. Our hockey team is self funded=they wanted a high school sport but there wasn't money in the budget. Most of their money comes from our hockey association and their fundraising efforts. All the sports teams are responsible for buying their own uniforms, most do that through various fundraisers. The school provides buses to events for 'sanctioned' sports-hockey has to pay for their own. The soccer association pushed for a high school soccer team and it passes but they will have to self fund as well (there aren't any other soccer teams in our conference so they will have to travel pretty far to play ).

The way federal/state funding is done has changed and that is why a lot of districts are in this bind. I always find it funny that people assume that the cost to run a school never increases and more often then not will vote down budget increasing votes like this. I can't imagine how much more our transportation costs have gone up this past year with gas prices more then double what they were a year or so ago. Our district could eliminate ALL fundraising needs with a tax increase of $200/year plus the increase for business/farm taxes but people won't budge. Most people end up spending more then that buying wrapping paper, candles or what ever is being sold through out the year.

 

[DVC Sadie]

When we lived in Maryland the county we lived in was highly taxed but had a great school system.

Down here in the south it is a horrible school system so many parents send their kids to private school.

Unfortunately if the school levy isn't passed in November then the writing is on the wall so I would either move or put the kids in a private school.

 

[debster812]

Debster812 how is the hockey team funding itself?

FUNDRAISING, FUNDRAISING, FUNDRAISING. They have some very business savvy parents, and there have been some pretty well done fund raisers. Comedy shows, Vegas Nights, etc. And if I'm not mistaken, all of the athletes do also 'pay to play' which is no difference from the other HS sports where you pay to participate.

My DS is only 9, and a soccer player, so we won't be directly involved, but he's got friends who play hockey, and if and when any of them make the HS team, we will be full fledged supporters.

 

[challada]

I work in a district that went thru major financial crisis two years ago.

We cut all sports but varsity. Varsity, and band and strings were put on a "pay to play" system where parents are now paying...at about $75/sport/activity, this adds up for a family quickly. It is my understanding that the average athelete now pays out of pocket about $300/year.

We cut all enrichment teachers.

We cut aides in the classroom except for special ed.


We are a middle class district and it was pretty devistating when the board went to do this...the community was hurt.

Well, this year we attempted to pass a maintenance/replacement levy....in our state you must have super majority (60%) to pass....we hit 56% passing. It was no increase to taxes, just a replacement of current levy amounts.

W/out this money, our state would also remove matching funds that it provides for equalization which is an additional 1.5 million loss (how is it equal to REMOVE funds???).

With this loss of funds, we will lose all busing (as crow flies all kids in our district are w/in mileage minimums of our state...who cares if no roads go that way); we will lose 30% administrators (principals will cover more than one building); we will lose all secretaries (who is going to answer phones?? those principals who are there half time?); we will lose 30 teachers.

Our district decided to attempt to rerun the levy right away after it didn't pass and get the numbers out...we ended up passing at 64%. We are able to continue where we are at right now.


Unfortunately, as someone mentioned...many complain about public education, but don't want to help fix it either.

 

[barkley]

growing up in northern california (graduated in 1979) we had arts and sports in our public schools but (at least in our school district) they were more limited than what many consider "bare bones" programs today. in elementary there were no team sports (just what was played in p.e.), music was choir for 4th grade-6th only and we had a traveling teacher who came to school only twice per week. instrumental was for 3rd-6th and the same teacher did group instruction again only twice per week (and there were no loaner instruments-you provided your own). in jr and senior high there was choir offered three times per day (women's, concert, and an elite small group) as well as 3 periods of band (marching band, wind ensamble and jazz band). sports (teams) were limited to football, baseball/softball (for the girls), soccer, tennis and basketball. while the choirs and performed alot for the public there was not a huge emphasis on elaborate clothing (we wore a black long skirt and each year a new blouse was selected, the boys wore black suits, but there was a supply kept on hand largly from community donations). we also did not go on major trips accross the country or to foreign destinations (we traded going "on tour" with the cross town highschool every other year-and that was from northern to southern california on busses and sleeping in host school gymnasiums). team sports beyond practice and games were low key with respect to any extras-one banquet was held each year for all teams at which awards were kept to mvp (no trophies for participation-that was left to the letter on your letterman's jacket along with the sew on that indicated which team/teams you lettered in).

with regards to bussing-only those over a mile from school received it k-6th, and over 2 miles 7th-12th.

after i graduated i observed the programs massivly expand into very costly programs that included small (and sometimes private) vocal/instrumental music instruction, huge trips to foreign destinations, multi-costumed groups-and the sports teams begin in elementary (with many other sports added as well as the facilities needed to support them-gymnastics equipment was purchased, multiple pools constructed, enhanced stadium facilities built). bussing was increased such that anyone over a half mile from their school recieved it. as times got leaner the schools had to cut back on what had become "the norm" in these programs in order to meet the basic educational needs. while our programs are now considered "bare bones" they are still much more enhanced than what we had originaly.

when we bought our home (new construction in 1999) there were bonds and assessments that came as part of the purchase. one for school support runs for 10 years from the date of purchase. our little district has successfully used this money to provide some extra-curriculars for the kids, but not at the expense of other more basic educational services. the district has also worked in co-operation with community leagues to develop sports programs that can be held on school grounds with shared resources (school fields, league equipment and volunteer coaches). as for the arts-a theatre group i am involved with in a neighboring town entered into a relationship with their school district to provide free drama camps and the like, conducted by professionals on school grounds. they also produce a couple of children's geared shows per year, and do audtions at the school campuses to facilitate student participation. at production time, the group and school pool their resources to bus the entire school (in shifts) to the theatre for matinees of the show and follow up q&a sessions.

i think there are ways to offer extra curricular programs to students at a minimal financial cost, but there has to be a tremendous time investment on the part of the adults. i think the best tract is to look at an individual activity and determine what the TRUE essentials are (does the sport necessitate specific clothing-if not teams can be differentiated by tshirts, choirs and bands have been known to perform in street clothing) and work from there. if the goal of having a choir is to expose a student to vocal music theory and practices with the ultimate goal of public performance-keep the public performances SIMPLE-have it in the cafeteria or gym if necessary or a public park. just because opportunites to perform at walt disney world exist it should'nt be done at the cost of not being able to have these programs for the next several years.

 

[lsyorke]

They also eliminated busing for students who lived less than 1/2 mile from their respective school.

They were busing kids that were less than a half mile? Wow! Here's it's two miles to get a bus.

 

[bobcat]

My school dristrict had an income tax issue that didn't pass. They were trying to use this type of levy to fund operating expenses figuring that since it only taxed earned income it wouldn't affect senior citizens and farmers, we are a rural district. Well since it didn't pass they are now scrambling to find ways to make up the projected deficit, including not funding any extra curriculars. We didn't have more than the basics to begin with and this will be a huge loss to not only our kids but to our community. Our deficit is caused by the state, money that was supposed to be available (over 1 million $) has been cut by our wonderful legislators and was not a mismanagement of our local district. Besides not replacing teachers, eliminating some positions and cutting course offerings extracurriculars are out.

I went to our school board meeting and was very frustrated that they put all their eggs in one basket. They didn't have a plan B and are now scrambling to find necessary funds let alone try to figure out how we can save anything else. There is a special meeting Monday night to talk about putting the same levy on the ballot again and I intend to be there as well. I also received an email from our band director about a meeting Tuesday night that includes music, sports and any other extra curricular groups to try and figure out how we may be able to save what we have. We are a small district in a small town and there is only so much fundraising we can do.