Amherst Schools to ask for money
Jason Hawk | The Chronicle-Telegram
AMHERST — As the price of everything goes up, the Amherst Schools budget has grown tighter and school officials say they have no choice but to go to the voters for a fourth time this November in search of relief.
The school board will meet 4:30 p.m. Monday at
“Without this, we’ll be in serious financial trouble next June,” said Superintendent Robert Boynton, who will retire at the end of July after 12 years in charge of the
He said the schools, which haven’t gotten new operating money since 1995, are plunging headlong toward a $3.3 million deficit.
School board members approved $6 million in cuts in 2004, including teachers, aides, custodians and bus drivers.
Boynton said class sizes will take a hit if nothing is done, and many electives — such as television production and medical health classes — could be canceled. After-school sports and clubs also could get the ax, he said.
Ron Yacobozzi, president of the school board, said district employees helped save millions of dollars in 2007 by agreeing to finance a larger part of their health coverage. They also agreed to take smaller cost-of-living increases, he said.
“We’ve been able to manage the money that we’ve had carefully,” Yacobozzi said. “But the bottom line is that expenses continue to go up. I don’t know of any business that can run efficiently without having new revenue as time goes on.”
The last time the Amherst Schools asked voters for cash was in April, when a 5.77-mill issue lost by just four ballots.
Yacobozzi said the economy has plummeted since that time, but he’s still convinced residents will see the need to help the schools in November.
Even with public support and new money, the schools will probably have to make cuts to balance the budget, he said.
Contact Jason Hawk at 329-7148 or jhawk@chroniclet.com.
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Filed by Jason Hawk | The Chronicle-Telegram July 19th, 2008 in Local and State. Popularity: 6% |
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Comments
Comment from
WolfeTone98
July 20, 2008, 10:34 am
With Governor Strickland in the midst of preparing his 2009 school finance reform plan, would it not be prudent for local taxpayers not to increase local property taxes, at least until we know how much more, if any, school funding will be available from Columbus? As reported by The Morning Journal (Lorain, Ohio), the Ohio Lottery takes in $45,000,000 weekly, according to Dan Metelsky of the Lottery Commission. If the General Assembly would only restore to the schools the same percentage of the general fund as was being allocated to the schools before the Lotterywas approved, perhaps local schools would have enough revenue to operate their systems without having to ask local property owners to pay more and more.
Comment from
forrestforrestgump
July 20, 2008, 10:14 pm
another thing that has to be taken into consideration is real estate values are plummeting. property taxes are the means by which our schools are funded.
even if we increase the millage on our schools, we can still be in jeopardy.
stupid is what stupid does!
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