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Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2007 > August > 28 > Entry

Lots going on with Dayton schools

By selliott | Tuesday, August 28, 2007, 10:20 PM

Besides Tuesday’s news about inclusion on school construction, I’ve gathered a bunch of small news items this week, none of which has made it into the paper. But some will be of interest to those who work in Dayton schools, have kids attending them or follow board politics.

Some of this comes from Tuesday’s board finance committee meeting or the regular board meeting that followed. Some I just gathered by talking to folks over the past few days. I’ve got stuff on vouchers, charter schools, enrollment, textbooks, teaching materials, finances, job cuts, middle school sports, arts instruction, labor relations, the Ludlow buildings, Montessori instruction, Julienne High School, teacher raises and Percy Mack’s pay.

Read all about it by clicking the “continued” link.

—Voucher cost more than doubles. Stan Lucas told the board’s finance committee Tuesday that the cost to the district for students using the state’s voucher program to attend private schools more than doubled last year.

The program was expanded by the legislature last year, making more kids in low scoring schools eligible. More than 1,200 Dayton kids now use vouchers, each taking more than $5,000 in state aid with them. In the first year of the program, Lucas said, vouchers cost the district about $2.5 million. For last year, his office had estimated about $5 million in voucher costs, but the real cost was $5.5 million.

—Enrollment. Dayton’s enrollment may have actually gained a couple hundred kids this year, according to the district’s early estimates. School officials had feared a decline after sports and other programs were cut in the wake of a levy defeat.

Charter enrollment appears to have dipped slightly, Lucas told the finance committee. He speculated some charter students opted for vouchers. The district’s charter school cost was down slightly from the prior year at $42.7 million.

—Materials and supplies. Lucas mentioned during the finance committee meeting that the district was keeping a close eye on its expenses for materials and supplies. That prompted a question from school board President Yvonne Isaacs.

“Are the staff and teachers getting what they need, though?” she said.

“Yes ma’am. They are,” Lucas answered.

—A thin margin of error. The district ended the fiscal year with $11.1 million in cash on a $212 million budget.

—Textbooks. Deputy Superintendent Debra Brathwaite told the finance committee the district skipped its planned purchase of new Alegbra I textbooks this year because of the district’s financial crisis.

—Staff reductions. Lucas told the finance committee the district employed 3,111 people at the end of May. Today, after layoffs and job cuts, the district employs 2,624 — 487 fewer. That was less than the district’s original estimated need for 500 job cuts, he said. Of the cuts, 251 were employees represented by the teachers’ union — teachers, nurses, counselors and other instructional staff.

—Middle school sports are back. In response to a question from the teachers’ union vice president David Romick, athletic director Jonas Smith said middle school volleyball and football were restored for the fall after successful fundraising by a parent group and from local business. Smith said fundraising continues in hopes of restoring some winter and spring sports.

—No raises this year. Romick also told me the teachers’ union did not ask for a reopener to discuss salary for the upcoming school year, which means teachers will get no raise this year after getting just 1.25 percent last year. They will still get step increases based on experience and the board will continue to pay the same portion of their health care premiums.

—Mack gets no raise either. One reason why Percy Mack might be looking around at other opportunities is that he is taking no raise again this year, just as he didn’t last year. Mack makes about $140,000 annually.

By the way, the superintendent in Mobile, who is not being renewed when his contract runs out, was only making $148,000 before the board bumped his pay about $10,000 in anticipation of the search. Board members, though, are reportedly willing to pay more than $200,000 and possibly up to $250,000 for their next superintendent. Mack interviews Wednesday along with the other four candidates.

I asked Yvonne Isaacs if the board would try to compete for Mack by offering him more money to stay. She said board members have not discussed anything like that yet but that finances were so tight that she was not sure how competitive the board could be in a bidding war.

—Aid for Arts. Board member Stacy Thompson said the district should know by weeks’s end if a grant it is seeking with Culture Works is successful in bringing artists in residence to Dayton schools. Thompson said Dayton Philharmonic also is seeking to restore its concert series for young people with support from the Dayton Foundation.

—Lynch rips the board. During Tuesday’s regular board meeting, teachers’ union president Pay Lynch was very critical of the school board. Lynch said the union warned the board that early August would be too hot for school and only agreed to the current calendar because it would have taken a strike to stop it.

She alluded to the board’s purchase of the Ludlow administration buildings, complaining that that it spent “$20 million of the children’s money on something other than children,” which she said helped cause cuts. She said the district should restore assistant principals and “eliminate at least half the central office staff.” Lynch said called the central office “unneeded make-work jobs” and said new central administration jobs had been created and open positions filled instead of cut.

Lynch urged the board to try to sell the Ludlow buildings and “end the conspiracy to deliberately violate collective bargaining agreements.” That irked board President Yvonne Isaacs, who responded, “I’m not sure I now what you’re talking about with conspiracy and so forth Ms. Lynch.”

—Julienne High School controversy. Dale Huffman wrote this week about how some Julienne alumni are angry that the district plans to demolish the school.

I spoke to John Carr, the district’s construction chief, about this. It’s a complicated problem. The district has tons of kids in the area around the school and wants an elementary school on that site. But they only need about half the square footage that the building has. So Carr had hoped to renovate part of the building to use as an elementary school.

But, Carr said, the Ohio School Facilities Commission nixed the idea. The OSFC said the building would cost too much to renovate, preferring a new building. Carr said the district will re-use the school’s auditorium, which Dayton Christian Schools renovated at a cost of more than $2.5 million before moving to Miami Twp a couple years ago.

Demolition should begin in the spring followed by work on a new elementary school there unless opponents of the plan can convince the board otherwise.

—New Montessori school. The district will announce next month that a new Montessori elementary school will be built across the river from downtown along the river bank near Deeds Point. The property, being offered by the city and Citywide Development Corporation, is just upriver from Rockwell’s restaurant and the Danis company’s headquarters.

In exchange, the district will sell the Patterson Career Center, which was to house the Montessori school, to the city. The city has been trying to work a deal to obtain the career center so the property can be used for the proposed “ballpark village” redvelopment plan around Fifth Third Field.

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