By Karen Vance
Enquirer contributor

ABOUT THE LEVIES

Clermont Northeastern • 4.9-mill permanent improvement levy • Would cost $150 per year for the owner of a $100,000 home. • Failed in March by a vote of 2,060 to 873 Williamsburg • 6.4-mill emergency operating levy to collect about $650,000 a year. • Additional cost: $110 per year for the owner of a $100,000 home. • Failed in March, 748-649

DEALING WITH DOWNTURN

Other districts where levies were rejected March 2 are also facing cutbacks. A sampling: • All Franklin schools now close at 4 p.m. except for events planned before failure of the March 2 levy. High school students must find their own rides to school. Three nonteaching positions have been eliminated. • Fairfield has eliminated its spring arts festival, a 42-year tradition, as part of a $3 million cost-reduction package that also cut high school busing and after-school activities effective with the new school year. • Edgewood Schools cut high school busing in the fall, imposed a hiring freeze and is changing the times elementary schools start as part of a $1 million cost-reduction package. A parent group is organizing a pay-to-participate program after the board eliminated all after-school activities. • Lakota is reducing its teaching staff by at least 29 positions and busing for grades 10-12 is being cut effective at the start of the second semester in January. A $4 million cut followed the levy defeat. It follows $3 million in cuts the board announced even if the levy had passed. • The Ross Board of Education approved $700,000 in cuts beginning in August that included a hiring freeze and increased class size, increased participation and supply fees, elimination of field trips and reduced spending for supplies. Despite renewing a levy in March, the Middletown Board of Education is eliminating 45 positions as part of a plan to reduce spending by $2 million annually.

STONELICK TWP. - Two Clermont County school districts have committed themselves to a levy on the August ballot.

And this month, both districts have been in talks about what they'll do if their levies fail.

In Clermont Northeastern, where the district is facing an $800,000 deficit in the 2005-06 school year, a failure of its 4.9-mill permanent improvement levy will lead to immediate cuts for the 2004-05 school year, said Superintendent Charles Shreve.

If the levy fails, the school board voted last week to suspend high school busing, move the class of 2005's commencement back to campus and reduce all operating budgets by 10 percent. The district is already operating under a spending freeze, forcing all requests for nonemergency spending to go before the board.

"There are some great things we want to do, and some bad things we want to avoid; and a levy is the only way," Shreve said.

But the district's contingency plan also included announcements of what will happen if the levy passes. Students' general supply fee will be reduced from $60 to $40, the existing pay-to-participate fee will be reduced from $75 to $50 and the high school class fee will be set at $125 to cover materials, class and lab fees, which are now paid on a per class basis, Shreve said.

The district also will be able to improve academic programs, increase graduation requirements, buy new instructional materials - the five-year textbook adoption cycle was halted four years ago - and make technology upgrades.

"We have been cutting or scaling back in each of these areas because of budget issues, and the permanent improvement levy will get us back on track," he said.

In nearby Williamsburg, the district is looking at a deficit in the exact amount of its 6.4-mill emergency operating levy request - $260,000 - for the 2004-05 school year. The district isn't talking about cuts for the upcoming school year, but has announced its proposed contingency cuts for the 2005-06 year, said Superintendent Tom Durbin.

If the levy fails, the school board is considering cutting all supplemental contracts for extracurricular activities, from yearbook adviser to varsity football coach; eliminating two elementary school teachers, a bus driver and two part-time custodians; and cutting budgets for supplies, capital improvements and services.

The district doesn't have plans to cut high school busing because middle school and high school students ride together to the same building with the same start time, Durbin said.

He presented the plan for the cuts effective June 2005 to the board at last week's meeting, but it hasn't been approved.

"We really can't afford to make any more cuts. We're down to the bone now," Durbin said.

In 2001, Williamsburg made $963,000 in cuts with 12 teachers, some junior varsity sports teams and other cost controls.

"We've been cost-cutting and conserving since 2001 to avoid more cuts, and my goal is to not have to make any of these cuts in June 2005," Durbin said.

And in CNE, Shreve said the district cut about $900,000 in the 2003-04 school year by reconfiguring its buildings; not replacing some teachers who retired or left; eliminating an administrator; and switching to all-day, alternate day kindergarten, said Shreve.

One thing the district has not touched has been extracurricular activities, and the board will review a recommendation from the levy committee, "Growing Our Future," on that topic at a school board meeting tonight he said.