In fiscal watch with state of Ohio, Springfield puts hopes on May levy
The May 3 levy for the Springfield Local School District is about more than numbers, students and teachers and board of education members will tell you.
In a March 30 discussion at Springfield High School and Junior High in Lakemore, six individuals with different roles in the district talked about the effect on staff, academics and athletics that two years of cuts have brought to the school system, making a sometimes emotional appeal for a levy they believe will put the district back on track.
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In practical terms, the levy would put an end to reductions that they all said have hurt the district. And it would stem a morale-sapping streak only made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic, they said.
‘The most affordable levy’
The levy increase sought next month is the smallest the board has placed on the ballot, said William Stuaffer, the district’s interim superintendent, in a March 27 phone interview. Two efforts to pass levies that would bring in more funds failed in August and November 2020.
In May 2021, the district tried a different tack, placing a 0.75% income tax on the ballot. The income tax would have raised about $2.7 million a year.
But voters were even more reluctant to support that form of tax, rejecting the issue 1,801 to 923, or 66.12% to 33.88%. With its latest request, the school board jettisoned efforts for an income tax, returning to the more traditional property tax and reducing the amount requested.
The district’s finances have been a continuing issue, and on Sept. 14 last year, Ohio Auditor Keith Faber placed the district in fiscal watch, citing a “substantial deficit in district funds.” Three months earlier, Faber had congratulated the Coventry Local School District for going in the opposite direction as it emerged from five years in fiscal emergency.
The latest levy request was designed to minimize the cost to residents in the district while providing enough funds to avoid further cuts, Stauffer said. Some programs could return if it passes, but fluctuations in state funding make those difficult to determine.
“We tried to make our request this time to fit into anybody’s budget,” said board President Larry Petry. “It keeps the lights on, it keeps the ink in the black.”
The five-year, 3.9-mill levy would add 39 cents for each $100,000 of a home’s valuation, with the first funds coming next year. Previous attempts have been about twice that amount.
“This is the most affordable levy they’ve put on the ballot in 22 years,” said Stauffer. “The last time they passed new money was 2000. It’s pretty affordable and it’s not going to get any cheaper than that.”
Stauffer, a former superintendent in the district, was pulled from retirement to lead the school system after the retirement of Superintendent Chuck Sincere. A new superintendent, Shelley Monachino, director of human resources and student experience for the Tallmadge district, will take the reins July 1.
As some voters consider the levy request, a police levy is also on the ballot for Springfield Township residents. It would replace and reduce the cost of the current police levy by 1.6 mills.
Lakemore residents, who are also in the Springfield Local School District, have no other issues on the ballot.
‘An accelerated fiscal situation’
The school levy, Petry said, is needed to avoid cuts to district programs and staff beyond those already made.
About three years ago, the cost-cutting began.
The board reduced 20.75 positions as the district’s bleak financial prospects became apparent. Departments in the district were given an imperative to cut costs, and those reductions, along with the job cuts, seemed enough to keep the district in the black.
But with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state did its own cutting to Ohio schools, paring $750,000 from the district over fiscal years 2020 and 2021.
“Along with sharply rising health care costs, the COVID-19 reductions pushed the District into an accelerated fiscal situation,” a Feb. 2021 financial recovery plan states.
The plan called for cutting another 9.25 classified positions, eliminating library staff, closing schools to after-hour activities, cutting junior high sports and instituting a $300 pay-to-play fee for high school sports.
“The reductions — we’re forced to make [them],” Petry said. “We have to look at what will be the least painful [and] we might not always get that right.”
New board member Cynthia Frola said program and staff cuts have already had an adverse impact on students and district employees. Frola was elected in November, along with two other new board members. Two members were voted out, including longtime board member Mary Lou Dodson, indicating disenchantment with the district’s course.
Watching the process unfold from the outside motivated Frola to run, she said.
“I feel like we’ve cut the legs out from under the kids,” Frola said.
Frola, a retired principal of the high school, said she is hoping for a different levy result this time, referring back to a bond issue for new school facilities approved in May 2010.
“I was principal of Springfield High School when we had the levy campaign,” she said. “We had this amazing community involvement.”
A question of morale
Petry and Frola can both cite practical reasons for voters to pass the levy: it will help end staff and program cuts; it would keep the state from taking over the district; it would stem the outward flow of teachers and students to other districts.
But it would also help restore morale among students and staff, said Springfield High School and Junior High senior Tammy Pham.
Pham said the tone of the district’s student population has shifted in the last couple of years, buffeted by the harsh winds of the COVID-19 pandemic and cuts to teachers, classes, and activities.
“There used to be a lot more school spirit,” she said.
Pham, who participates in marching band and cross-country, said some of her friends have left the district, along with instructors who have a strong rapport with students — including popular band director Ashley Fraley.
Pham attributes much of the lingering lassitude to the effects of the pandemic, when students were often masked and discouraged from fraternizing with friends. At times, students were taught remotely, removed from both classmates and teachers.
The cuts and fees have also had a profound impact on students, she said, with the pay-to-play requirement particularly hard on some athletes.
“A bunch of my friends have transferred to different schools,” she said.
Isaac Snyder, a junior at the high school, agreed with Pham that the atmosphere has shifted.
“It seems like the morale at our schools has definitely taken a drop,” he said.
The two are part of a group of about 100 students actively activating for the levy, passing out flyers to get the word out. In a prior levy, students held signs at polling places to encourage voters.
“We try to get the word out and try to get all of us to get the literature out,” Pham said. “Seeing things get cut so students can’t participate in them is a big bummer.”
Fewer students and fewer athletes
Stauffer said the fee for athletics is particularly hard for some in the district.
“You think about that: For some families that are low-income, $300 a sport is really expensive,” he said. “I think kids end up not participating. It creates a system of haves and have-nots.”
As the board’s attempts to deal with its fiscal condition have progressed, both enrollment and participation in athletics have declined.
Statistics compiled by Michelle Warner, principal at the combined high school and junior high, show a slow but steady drop in both.
In the 2018-2019 school year, the district had 1,067 students in grades 7-12. That’s declined to 964 in 2021-2022, or 9.7%. In athletics, the percentage drop has been even greater, falling from 566 participating in 2018-2019 to 404 in 2021-2022, or 28.6%. At the same time, overall student participation in the district’s athletic programs has declined from 53% to 41%.
Fundraising to reduce or cover participation fees helps many students stay in the game, but it also siphons funds from program needs like new equipment.
Class selections, too, have diminished.
“We’ve lost a number of programs with [the] three years of cuts,” Warner said.
Activities like a bridge building competition, the soap box derby, the junior high yearbook and an annual trip to Washington, D.C. The activities are important not only for what students learn, but keeping them engaged, Warner said.
“The more you offer, the more you can reach the interests of every kid,” she said.
Frola said the bridge-building competition was so popular the district had to field two teams.
“School is about education, but school’s also about an…
Read More: In fiscal watch with state of Ohio, Springfield puts hopes on May levy