Wednesday, January 27, 1999
Anti-tax activists rally against school levy
BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A growing anti-tax movement in Cincinnati is threatening a campaign to raise taxes for Cincinnati Public Schools even before it begins.
The first public debate over the proposed tax increase happens at a breakfast meeting today, when local leaders will discuss whether the district has done enough to trim expenses.
No one disputes the need for major repairs in schools where more than 47,000 children spend most of their days. But when officials announced this month they plan to pay for them with a tax hike that could top $92 million, they sparked an uproar.
SCHOOL SPENDING
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Cincinnati Public Schools gets 40 percent of its $370 million operating budget from the state and the rest from local taxpayers. Of those local taxes, 60 percent comes from businesses and the rest from residential property owners. Here's how the district spends some of that money:
• Classroom spending: $223 million. That includes $146 million in salaries.
• School-based administration: $46 million.
• Central office administration: $20 million.
• Pupil services (transportation, athletics, security, librarians, counselors etc.): $41 million.
• Building maintenance and improvements: $8 million.
• Discipline: $1.8 million. Source: Cincinnati Public Schools 1998-99 budget.
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“They think they're making a hard decision by trying to raise taxes, but the hard decisions they should have made were to cut teachers' salaries, which are the second-highest in the county, and to cut bloated administrative spending,” said Tom Brinkman Jr., an anti-tax activist and Mount Lookout resident whose six children attend parochial schools. “I don't want to pay for their mistakes.”
The anti-tax forces point to teachers' and administrators' salaries — among the highest statewide — and past failed efforts to boost achievement as reasons why voters should reject the proposal.
But district leaders blame financial problems on a lack of state support, increasing state mandates and inflation for their need to continually return to voters for money.
“It's a crime that the state of Ohio has basically taken a walk when it comes to help ing fix and operate the school buildings in Cincinnati and other districts around the state,” said Brewster Rhoads, a Mount Washington father of two who has run several district levy campaigns since 1991. “The state needs to step up to the plate and truly be a partner with the community to help our schools.”
Administrators want to
raise taxes by $24.4 million to $92 million. They say the money would fix problems that have troubled the district for years:
• Dilapidated buildings. In 1993, a district-commissioned study highlighted $600 million in needed repairs. Officials placed a building improvement plan for $348 million before voters, who soundly rejected it by a margin of 20,000 votes.
Since then, conditions in most buildings, which average 54 years in age, have worsened. In September, officials unveiled a facilities master plan recommending nearly $700 million in renovations and replacements of the district's 79 schools.
Officials say they can get $240 million from internal sources and city and Hamilton County leaders, who have pledged $200 million from stadium revenues. But they say they need local voters to pay the rest.
The state gives the district no money for building repairs, a snub school leaders decry as unfair because colleges receive millions in state money for capital needs each year. The University of Cincinnati, for example, received $54 million for buildings this academic year, spokesman Greg Hand said.
• Funding inequities. The district spends $30 million more on its popular magnet programs than on struggling neighborhood schools.
The disparity prompted the Cincinnati branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People last year to ask a federal judge to reopen a 25-year-old desegregation lawsuit against the district. A decision is pending.
• Operation needs. Only 40 percent of the district's operating budget comes from the state; local voters are asked to do the rest.
Many of the district's levies are not permanent, so officials must return to voters about every five years for reapproval. State law — enacted in the 1970s when inflation skyrocketed — prevents district taxes from rising with inflation, further tightening finances. Unfunded state requirements — such as all-day kindergarten — also drive up costs.
Voters since 1980 have approved most district tax renewals and increases under $50 million. The last increase — $23 million — passed in 1995, and officials then promised voters they wouldn't seek more new money until 1999.
The last successful capital bond issue was in 1975, for $12 million to build Roselawn-Condon School.
Officials are hoping that history of support will continue among the 242,076 people registered to vote within district boundaries.
“The public has a right to demand from us action, and we have a plan to make change,” school board member Lynn Marmer said.
But critics say past promises of change have fallen flat.
“(It's) one of the richest school districts in the state of Ohio and yet one of the worst-performing,” said anti-tax activist Chris Finney of Anderson Township, referring to high per-pupil expenditures. “More money does not equal better schools.”
Mr. Finney and Mr. Brinkman have spent recent weeks rounding up support to crush the district's efforts to raise taxes. Although the number of those who have pledged to fight is small, many were involved in successful fights against past school levies and the Cincinnati Zoo's efforts to pass a $10.3 million levy in 1997.
They also have snared the support of Family First, a conservative political action committee, and local politicians including Delhi Township Trustee Ann Miller and Cheviot Councilman Michael Mestemaker.
The anti-tax group is working on ideas for improvements without taxing voters. Their suggestions include:
• Limiting CPS teachers' salaries, which are highest among Ohio's urban districts and second only to Sycamore Township in Hamilton County.
• Cutting more services to state minimums. The district offers bus transportation to students within 1 mile of their home, even though the state allows a 2-mile radius.
• Cutting administrative expenses. The public affairs office, for example, has a $750,000 budget.
• Consolidating schools and selling some district properties in lieu of plunging enrollment.
While many parents and school supporters wholeheartedly endorse the need for reform and repairs, many hesitate when it comes to paying for them.
“My kids go to a really nice school, but it's a long, long way from their home,” said Esther Eubanks of Over-the-Rhine, whose two children attend Eastwood Paideia in Oakley. “If the district could get the money to make our neighborhood schools decent, I'd send them there. I do think we need the levy, but it should be as little as possible.”
Board members will host a breakfast for community leaders at 8 a.m. today at the Mayerson Academy, 2650 Highland Ave., Corryville, to discuss tax needs.
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