10/27/08

Plain Dealer

Jennifer González

It may not be an ideal time for school districts to ask voters for money. But the ballots have been printed, and there’s no going back.

School tax requests that were put on the ballot before the Wall Street meltdown will go before the voters on Nov. 4. So school officials are holding a collective breath for a positive outcome.

“For the most part, we are not hearing, ‘You don’t need the money.’ I think the case for needing the money is a given,” said James Herrholtz, superintendent in Richmond Heights. “But I don’t know what people are going to do in the voting booth.”

The district is asking voters to approve a 6.5-mill tax increase that would raise $1.6 million annually. Voters have turned down the district’s six previous tax requests.

Regardless, Herrholtz is optimistic. He’s pinning his hopes on the fact that the school district is not asking for extras. In fact, the money would allow the district to bring back programs and classes it cut two years ago, including band, cheerleading and Advanced Placement courses.

A handful of school districts - Amherst, Mayfield, South Euclid-Lyndhurst, North Royalton and Brooklyn - may make deep budget cuts if their tax requests fail. The cuts range from laying off teachers and staff to eliminating extracurricular activities and high school busing and closing school buildings to outside organizations after school.

Both Wellington and Wadsworth school districts have ambitious construction projects on the ballot.

Wellington’s $26.7 million bond issue would pay for a $47 million K-12 school building-replacing the district’s existing three school buildings. The state is contributing the balance.

Because of the school district’s small size, it makes sense to construct one large school building, said Superintendent Francis Scruci. There are 1,480 students enrolled in Wellington, but only 1,350 actually attend the school. The rest attend Lorain County Joint Vocational School or take college credit courses at Lorain County Community College.

The new facility would include geothermal heating and cooling, which would save the district $15,000 annually. And it would provide air conditioning for classrooms for the first time.

In Wadsworth, a $65.6 million bond issue would be used to construct three elementary school buildings and a high school. The entire project costs $116 million. State money and future collections from the Medina County sales tax will cover the rest.

The school district’s project is tied to a larger community project involving the city, the public library and Wadsworth Rittman Health System. That plan includes building recreation and senior centers, a satellite library and a small medical office complex at the high school site.

The school district’s bond issue is not paying for those projects, but failure of the issue could derail the broader plan.