Sunday, July 30, 2000
St. Bernard-Elmwood Place Grade: B.
LEVY REQUEST: A 7.86-mill emergency levy to raise $1.67 million annually for the next four years. It will cost the owner of a home valued at $70,000 an extra $159 a year.
OTHER LEVIES: A 4.51-mill levy was renewed in 1998 (expires in 2003). The last new money okayed by voters was in 1994. All bond issues were retired in December 1991.
IF LEVY PASSES: The money will replace tax revenues lost by the 1997 closing of a Procter & Gamble plant and be used for inflationary increases, pay raises averaging 3 percent for teachers and staff, and to maintain current programs. These include smaller classes with more teachers and aides in early grades, elementary grade art, nurses, music and physical education.
IF LEVY FAILS: Budget cuts, including many of the above services, would be made and raises postponed. Voters will be asked again in November.
Our recommendation: For years, this small, proud enclave within the city of Cincinnati lived contentedly off the plentiful, steady taxes paid by Procter & Gamble and a few other industries within its borders. These taxes financed independence from the surrounding Cincinnati Public Schools, and ample services for several generations of families and staff. Thanks to the industry taxes — which pay about 80 percent of the school tab here — homeowners have one of the lowest school tax rates in Hamilton County. It's a blessing because the median income of residents is second lowest in the county, behind only Norwood's.
But change is coming. Because of the 1997 P&G plant closing, the district losses will reach $1.6 million in tax revenues by next year. The revenue decline is expected to continue as Ohio reduces taxes on business inventories each year. The “lost” income won't come from state coffers, as it does in many districts, because St.Bernard-Elmwood Place still has higher property valuations than more than half of Hamilton County's districts.
Homeowners will have to pay a little more if they want to keep the same services and programs and address some tougher education tasks. The district has many impoverished families and a jump from 10 to 14 percent last year in students with special needs. More student mobility and behavior problems make teaching, retention and learning more difficult.
The dwindling tax revenues, more at-risk students and Ohio's new minimum performance standards comprise a sobering wake-up call here. The schools met only 10 of Ohio's 27 standards for effective schools last year. Consequently, the district has developed an excellent (and mandated) improvement plan. It identifies what's wrong, what will be done and who's responsible for doing it.
The focus is improved student achievement — especially proficiency test scores and graduation rate — all below state average in a district that spends well above average per pupil. There's a push for more effective discipline and “establishing a climate of civility” in all schools. There's a new approach to hiring teachers, to what's taught and how. Early literacy is stressed because many students test below average even before they start school. Learning and academic problems will be identified and addressed earlier.
Early data show the district will meet 2 to 4 more of the state standards in the next count and proficiency scores are inching up in every category.
New superintendent Jim Thomas, brings vim, vigor and a new way of doing business, starting with teaching methods and training. Through outside grants, the district will provide all-day kindergarten, a separate program for middle-schoolers with chronic learning and behavior problems and more services to boost family literacy.
The board recently cut $671,000 from the budget (mostly personnel). Last year, lots of dollars went to promised raises, buyout of the former superintendent's contract, paying interim administrators and early retirement payments aimed to lower high payroll costs in the next few years.
The next operating budget, $9.1 million, actually decreases .9 percent from this year's — a rare happening in any district.
This levy is substantial for residents in the district where average incomes hover at $30,000. Fortunately, the tax rate is still low.
This levy lasts only four years. Confidence in the new leadership is warranted. We recommend voters pass this levy and then hold leaders firmly accountable for their promises of change and results.
