Home | Back

School levy supporters begin 'shortest campaign' in years

Share_print Print Story    |    Comments    |   

January 13, 2010

by Jeff Saunders

Reporter

Nordonia Hills -- With just a few weeks until the Feb. 2 special election, supporters of a new 6.5-mill continuing operating levy for the schools are gearing up for a quick campaign.

About 30 supporters of Issue 1 met at Northfield Elementary School Jan. 6 to begin planning for what district Public Information Officer Patti Koslo -- who said she's been involved with 12 levy campaigns -- called "the shortest campaign I've ever worked on."

Additional weekly levy planning meetings and town hall-style meetings, are planned through January (see box).

Koslo estimated that at least half of those who attended were parents, while the remainder are district staff.

She said district employees working on the campaign are doing so on their own time and the campaign's budget of about $1,000 comes from donations collected by the Friends of Nordonia Schools, a political action committee formed to support school levy campaigns.

"No district funds are used to run a levy campaign," said Koslo.

According to the Summit County Fiscal Office, the levy would raise more than $6.5 million annually. Superintendent Wayne Blankenship said it would cost the owner of a $200,000 home just under $400 annually. Blankenship said the levy is needed because while expenditures increase, property taxes don't "grow with inflation."

"I wish I could raise a magic wand and never have to ask for another dime," he said.

Committee Chairwoman Beth Neff-Hall said the committee has set up a Web site, www.nordonialevy.org and plans to advertise in local newspapers, write letters to the editor, speak to community groups that use school facilities and update a Facebook page and Twitter account.

The committee is also planning to send recorded telephone messages to district parents.

Koslo said the system that would send phone messages is similar to a system the district uses to notify parents in emergencies, but the committee will use an outside service.

Koslo also said residents would have the opportunity to opt out of getting future messages.

Neff-Hall, a Sagamore Hills resident, and the committee's other officer, Treasurer and Macedonia resident Charles Frazzin, both have past involvement with the schools.

Neff-Hall graduated from Nordonia High School in 1992 and was Lee Eaton Elementary School associate principal from 2003 to 2005, when she resigned to become a "stay-at-home mom."

Frazzin said he is a relative newcomer to the district, but served as treasurer of the committee that campaigned for the $6 million athletic facility reconstruction bond issue, which passed in November 2008.

Both say they became involved in the current campaign because they are concerned about their children.

"My husband and I feel that any opportunity we can give our kids throughout their life is important," said Neff-Hall.

The last time district voters approved an operating levy for the district, also a 6.5-mill continuing levy, was in August 2004.

At the time, district officials predicted they would have to place another levy on the ballot in 2007.

Officials say they were able to extend it through such cost savings as offering older teachers early retirement packages and replacing them with younger teachers at lower pay and through membership in government and educational purchasing consortiums.

According to district financial records, the schools' cash reserves were about $12 million at the end of the 2008-09 fiscal year last June 30. Officials are projecting that without a revenue increase, the district will eat through these reserves in the next few years.

"In 2013, we will have a $3.8-million deficit without new revenue," said Koslo.

District officials have said that because it is in violation for the district to go into the red, drastic cuts, including personnel, are likely without the levy.

E-mail: jsaunders@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3169




Comments
By Posting to this site, you agree to our Terms of Service Be polite. Inappropriate posts may be removed. The-News-Leader.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post.

Login above or Register to comment.
 0 Total Comments Home | Back