Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > October > 04
Wednesday, October 4, 2006
Schools get cut, city gets a raise
(Mayor Rhine McLin and Superintendent Percy Mack)
On the same day Dayton school board President Gail Littlejohn publicly announced that Superintendent Percy Mack and Treasurer Stan Lucas would take no raise this year, a city panel recommended a 23 percent raise for Mayor Rhine McLin and 22 percent raises for the rest of the city commissioners.
Comments?
Permalink | Comments (17) | Categories: Dayton Public Schools, Schools and Politics
Labor talks, cash crunch hit city schools
By Scott Elliott
Staff Writer
The quickly worsening financial picture for Dayton Public Schools could stir labor unrest as the district looks toward a critical levy vote expected in May.
A two-year contract with teachers expired June 30, and their union and the school board are in mediation. The union has asked teachers to meet today to discuss options, and its president, Pat Lynch, said a vote to authorize the leadership to call for a strike is an option that may be discussed.
“That depends on what the members tell me,” Lynch said. “I’m asking them, ‘How do we proceed?’ “
On Tuesday, the board heard a bleak financial forecast from district Treasurer Stan Lucas. Two years ago, the district’s year-end cash balance was $45 million. Lucas said if the budget holds, Dayton will end this school year with a carryover of about $1.5 million.
“That’s very tight,” he said.
Revenues have been declining since the board’s last operating levy, which passed in 1992, and after enrollment losses to charter schools. Last spring, the board lost an appeal to the state about a change in the way charter school costs are deducted, taking a bite out of this year’s budget.
The fiscal realities are driving the district toward a levy try in May, board President Gail Littlejohn said. They’re also complicating the teacher talks. She agreed with Lynch’s statement that the board is offering teachers a one-year deal that amounts to no raise.
Littlejohn said she understood the frustration many employees feel in a year when the district finally gained big on the state’s academic report card scale. Lucas and Superintendent Percy Mack already have agreed to the board’s request that they take no raise this year, she said. Other administrators also will get no raise.
“Everybody worked like crazy to get out of academic emergency,” Littlejohn said. “This is the year the board would have most liked to have recognized everybody with a raise. I wish the financial picture looked better.”
Teacher raises the past two years were 4 percent each year. Health care is another major union concern. Last year the district’s health care costs jumped 19 percent over the prior year, triggering a contract clause that raised teachers’ contributions. The sides will meet again with a mediator Nov. 1.
As in many of its most recent financial crunches, Dayton Public Schools’ latest trouble was sparked by a dispute over charter schools.
School leaders knew they were going to need a levy soon and intentionally planned to spend from a $45 million cash reserve to put off that day. But a deal with the state on charters fell through, pushing the financial stress forward and forcing a levy try, which board president Gail Littlejohn said will come in May.
The district, which hired a consultant to try to nail down charter enrollment, last spring said charters had 675 fewer students than what the schools reported.
Each child who attends charter schools costs the district money. Using the charter schools’ figure, Dayton owed an extra $4 million for last year and $6 million for this year and next — a total budget bite of $16 million.
School leaders and the state nearly reached a compromise that would saved Dayton schools millions. But when the legislature passed House Bill 530 in May it made the state the “final arbiter” of funding disagreements. With that, the state withdrew from talks with Dayton, Treasurer Stan Lucas said.
“That killed us,” he said. “I can’t tell you the damage that did.”
Even if teachers agree to forgo a raise this year, Lucas said it will take $23 million in new income just to break even next year — equivalent to about 10 percent of the district’s budget. Without passing a levy, the district would have to make cuts.
Dayton Public Schools will end the year with about $1.5 million in the bank, a tiny carryover for its $225 million budget. Two years ago, the carryover was $45 million. These are some of the factors involved in the cash crunch:
Inflation: Since the 1980s, school districts have battled against ever-declining revenues thanks to a change in state law that stopped tax levy income from growing with inflation.
Most districts began seeking new levies more often, usually at least every three to five years, as income from prior levies decreased in buying power.
Dayton’s most recent levy was 1992. The district estimates every tax dollar it collects has about 54 cents in spending power today.
Cost cutting: After a 1999 financial crisis, the board eliminated a multimillion-dollar deficit by closing a dozen schools. The belt-tightening continued under Percy Mack, who in four years eliminated 325 jobs — about 10 percent of the district’s workforce — and trimmed the budget by $45 million.
The reserve: The district built a strong carryover balance that reached $45 million in 2004, helped along by a run of good fortune — a large delinquent real estate tax collection, a refund of a state overcharge for charter schools, state money from the district’s desegregation settlement and an increase in state aid for disadvantaged districts — which all came between 2002 and 2004.
Rising expenses: Health care and labor costs strained the budget. Health care costs have jumped an average of 17 percent each of the past two years. Teachers earned raises of 4 percent each of the past two years. Dayton’s average teacher pay ranks eighth in Montgomery County and 19th among the 77 Dayton-area districts.
School construction: Voter approved construction funds in 2002, which raised $245 million in local matching funds for the $627 million program to rebuild schools throughout the district in partnership with the state. Those funds, by law, cannot be used to fund operations, only construction.
Permalink | | Categories: My Favorite DDN Stories
