Friday, September 17, 1999
Schools to wait for fix-up
Poorest are Taft plan's 1st priority
BY MICHAEL HAWTHORNE
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS — Kindergartners in most Southwest Ohio school districts wouldn't get help from Gov. Bob Taft's plan to repair and renovate schools until at least the sixth grade.
Students, teachers and administrators in most of the 48 school districts in Butler, Clermont, Hamilton and Warren counties would have to wait even longer because the region is considered too wealthy compared to other parts of Ohio.
Moreover, virtually all the districts would have to persuade residents to raise at least half the money locally to get any state construction funds.
Mr. Taft's aides provided more details Thursday about how the governor's $10 billion, 12-year plan would work if approved by lawmakers. While the proposal gave schools an idea when they can expect assistance, most superintendents in Southwest Ohio already were resigned to waiting in line.
Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) would be the first area district eligible for state construction funds. The state's Big 8 urban districts are promised help in 2003, but CPS would first have to raise 80 percent of the costs locally.
“We're looking for the state
to be a bigger partner in all of this,” said Richard Gardner, the district's treasurer. “I hope they will recognize we are trying to fix our buildings without placing additional demands on local taxpayers.”
Faced with an estimated $700 million in repairs and renovations, CPS is planning to issue $250 million in bonds to pay for some of the work.
The bonds would be backed by a combination of general funds and money the city and Hamilton County promised as part of the deal for new Bengals and Reds stadiums, Mr. Gardner said.
It's unclear how CPS would come up with the rest of the money. Voters rejected a 1993 request for $350 million to fix the district's school buildings.
State officials have been scrambling to find ways to fix crumbling schools since the Ohio Supreme Court ordered lawmakers in 1997 to overhaul the way public schools are built and funded. A year earlier, a U.S. General Accounting Office study declared Ohio's school buildings the worst in the 50 states.
Under the system state officials established to comply with the court's order, districts least able to finance repairs, renovations and new construction with local taxes are the first to get help.
Of the state's 611 school districts, 120 have received part or all of their state construction funds since a coalition of schools sued for changes in 1991, according to the Ohio School Facilities Commission.
Mr. Taft's plan is intended to ensure all schools get help within the next 12 years.
“We've never had a plan like this in the state of Ohio,” said Tom Johnson, Mr. Taft's budget director. “I think it will be very useful.”
Assuming CPS is able to raise enough money to qualify for state funds, Mount Healthy in Hamilton County and Hamilton in Butler County would be the next area districts in line for help. Those districts wouldn't be eligible until 2006. Wealthier districts, such as Forest Hills, Springboro and Madeira, wouldn't be up until 2010.
State funding generally is based on a ranking of school districts by property values and median income divided by the number of students. The state has been moving up the list from poorest to richest.
CPS is 498th on the list. All but nine of the 48 districts in Butler, Clermont, Hamilton and Warren counties are higher than 300.
Districts still could opt to finance construction with local funds. Voters in the Sycamore Community School District, one of the state's wealthiest, approved a bond issue last November that will fund $45 million in renovations at the district's seven schools.
For many area school districts, the problem isn't aging school buildings. It's that they don't have enough space to handle growing enrollment.
“Our classrooms are too small for the kids we're projecting we'll see in the next few years,” said David McWilliams, superintendent of the Ross Local Schools in Butler County. “But we're considered one of the wealthy districts. We hadn't planned on the state helping us take care of the situation.”
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