Saturday, January 08, 2000
School levies moving toward forefront
Priorities may change before March
BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati Public Schools leaders showed a disturbing lack of urgency about their need for a $24 million levy last fall and must mobilize immediately to convince voters how desperately the district needs two lev ies it will seek in March, former Gov. John Gilligan said Friday.
Mr. Gilligan, elected to the school board in November, issued a wake-up call to his new peers during a daylong board retreat with Superintendent Steven Adamowski at the district's Corryville headquarters.
Board members spent the retreat's first two hours listing their priorities for 2000, which ranged from building repairs and charter schools to extracurricular policies and students with chronic behavior problems.
But with just eight weeks before the election, Mr. Gilligan told his colleagues they should redirect their energies to passing two levies totaling $104 million they will seek March 7. The money will be used to restore a $180-per-pupil cut, reduce class size, fix facilities, beef up reading and math programs in primary grades and cover inflation.
“We're just blowing smoke if we don't get the levies,” Mr. Gilligan said. “There's been a flight of time, and if we don't get the job done, then it's: "Man the lifeboats!'”
Superintendent Adamowski also asked board members for direction on what administrators should cut from the budget if the levies fail.
Such discussions should happen soon, Mr. Adamowski added, because state law requires districts to notify administrators and teachers by late March and late April, respectively, whether their contracts will be renewed.
“I'm not at a point where I can pull any more rabbits out of the hat here,” he said, referring to budget cuts made last spring.
But board member Sally Warner said the board shouldn't examine possible budget cuts publicly because residents might balk and feel threatened into rejecting the levies. She asked Mr. Adamowski to huddle behind closed doors with other administrators to identify potential cuts.
Board President Rick Williams responded: “We can't pretend that there are no ramifications for the failure of this levy.”
Board members didn't decide whether or when they will discuss cuts. They did agree to appoint a liaison to Cincinnatians Active to Support Education, the political action committee that runs the district's levy campaigns.
Mr. Gilligan suggested CPS seek the support of the teachers' union, chamber of commerce, neighborhood councils, parent groups and students — and charge those groups with spreading the district's message of need.
He also called on the board to hold frequent community meetings with no set agendas, so residents can discuss whatever issues concern them.
“I'm for pulling out all the stops, anything we can do to get anyone involved,” he said.
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