Thursday, January 28, 1999
Schools find new tax tough sell
Opinion leaders not convinced
BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Minutes after Cincinnati Public Schools officials finished a pep talk Wednesday to convince community leaders the district needs a tax increase, Tom Brinkman Jr. looked around at the skeptical audience and smiled.
“Dissension in the ranks,” the anti-tax activist and Mount Lookout resident said. “That's good for us.”
District officials had called the breakfast meeting to explain that the 47,400-student district needs a tax hike of $24.4 million to $92 million to offset inflation, repair schools and erase per-pupil funding inequities.
But many of the 60 people who gathered for doughnuts and coffee made it clear that they wouldn't be easily convinced. While most agreed the schools needed more money, few agreed on how much, how it should be spent and where it should come from.
“You can do all the renovation and rehabilitation you want, but without good programs, it's all for naught,” said Eileen Cooper Reed, executive director of the Children's Defense Fund's Greater Cincinnati Project. She stressed the need for money to support academics.
But the Rev. Craig Edwards of Consolation Baptist Church in Mount Auburn said support may be difficult to win because residents are frustrated with the district's problems. “People have not been seeing results, and they have to see results before they'll agree to give more money,” he said.
That's why officials must fund buildings, another community leader said.
“Go for the whole wad on the building issue now and go for some really bloody cuts on the operating side,” said Duane Holm, executive director of the Metropolitan Area Religious Coalition of Cincinnati. “We need to make visible improvements this year, and we can come back for operating money next year after people can see the results.”
Ron Felder, a member of Citizens Active to Support Education, cautioned officials against continually returning to voters for new money.
“The general public does not differentiate between operating and construction money,” he said. “They say: "I just gave money last year. I don't want to give more this year.'”
School officials should avoid caving in to critics and act decisively, one resident advised.
“At some point in time, we have to get rid of this Cowardly Lion mentality,” said Nathaniel Livingston Jr., a community activist from Avondale. “We need to go to the Wizard and ask for some courage.”
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