Monday, March 22, 1999
Cincinnati schools might ask 6-mill levy
BY BEN L. KAUFMAN and DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati Public Schools Superintendent Steven Adamowski says the district needs a $32.4 million tax increase this November — unless the state budget, charter schools or other factors provide any surprises.
School board members stressed this weekend that they haven't settled on any levy amount. But some agreed that 6 mills, or $32.4 million, is a fair amount and shouldn't spark the protests that arose in January and February when officials debated an increase of up to $92 million.
Officials have said for months that they need a 7-mill increase to cover inflation. But Mr. Adamowski last week recommended $10 million in cuts to central-office spending, which would reduce that inflationary need to 5 mills.
Friday, Mr. Adamowski
said the 47,200-student district needs an additional mill to erase funding inequities between neighborhood and magnet schools.
A 6-mill increase would boost the tax bill for a $75,000 house by nearly $140.
The levy amount must be approved by school board members. Mr. Adamowski is expected to present his budget recommendations late next month for the 1999-2000 school year.
The deadline to place an issue on the November ballot is in August.
School board members stressed that they may need that much time to decide a levy amount, because the district's budget is incomplete.
No one knows how much the state will give the district and how many students might leave for charter schools. The Ohio Department of Education is considering the applications of eight charter schools to open this fall within CPS boundaries.
“What it ends up being is going to be what we need,” board President Lynwood Battle Jr. said.
Cincinnati needs the equivalent of 5 mills for “business as usual,” board member Sally Warner said, whether it comes from the state or from property taxes.
But Ms. Warner said it could be months before the board picks a figure that represents a balance between “what will the public bear” and “what can we promise them.”
Board member Arthur Hull said people tell him they are “heartened by our seriousness” in cutting costs, and 6 mills would be “within reason.”
Cincinnati Federation of Teachers President Tom Mooney agreed: “It's too early to commit to a specific number.”
Still, anything more than 2 mills drew renewed criticism from the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes, which fought CPS levy plans earlier this year.
Coalition President Tom Brinkman Jr. said the district's numbers don't add up. The district will receive $200 million from the city and Hamilton County for facilities. And student population is dropping almost as fast as inflation is rising, Mr. Brinkman said.
About 700 fewer students enrolled this year than last year, and a recent CPS report projected a drop of 8,000 students over the next decade.
If the board goes with 5 or 6 mills, Mr. Brinkman cautioned, “We'd say to them, "Boy, you're going to triple the rate of inflation and we don't like that.'”
Chris Finney, former chairman of Hamilton County's tax review committee, said the coalition would back a 2-mill levy, even though falling student numbers keep per-capita spending almost even with inflation.
More money would encourage further “irresponsibility,” since per-pupil spending is high while student performance remains “dismal,” Mr. Finney said.
That didn't sit well with board members.
“I'm very troubled by simplistic explanations about a very complex situation,” Mr. Battle responded.
Averages are misleading, Ms. Warner added.
The Finney-Brinkman calculation ignores vast expenditures on students with special needs and efforts to raise per-pupil spending in neighborhood schools to that of magnet schools.
Averages also ignore the more than 20 percent of the district's students with some problem that requires additional spending, from a daily tutor to ambulance rides to and from school because of health problems, she said.
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