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School officials see hope with public outcry
(by Sue Hoffman - April 22, 2011)
School officials see hope with public outcry
By SUE HOFFMAN
Solon school officials said Monday they believe they are making progress with their testimony in Columbus regarding the impact of the state budget bill on the school district. But that the stream of postcards, letters and e-mails from the public needs to continue, they said.
The public's messages also will be needed when the budget bill, now in the Ohio House of Representatives, goes to the Senate, they said.
"It's not red or blue, Democrat or Republican," School Superintendent Joseph V. Regano said at Monday's school board meeting. "It's green. It all revolves around money, who's going to get it and how."
Mr. Regano, school board President Julie Glavin and district Treasurer Timothy Pickana have been testifying before the House Finance and Appropriations Committee about the effect of the budget bill on the district.
The budget bill would cause a loss of $54 million to the school district over the next eight years in tangible personal property taxes, starting with $1.2 million this summer, school officials said. The loss is in addition to a $1.3 million cut in state aid next year.
One of the most crucial issues is the bill's accelerated phaseout of state reimbursement for lost tangible personal property taxes, officials said. The locally raised tax had brought the district nearly $11 million a year, or 17 percent of the school district's budget.
If legislators had not promised to make reimbursement permanent through the commercial activities tax, "we would have done this in 2005," when the business taxes were revamped, Mr. Regano said about the grassroots lobbying effort. At that time, he said, "every legislator was up to speed" on the intention to hold the schools harmless.
Because of term limits, school officials and the public now must re-educate the legislature on its promise, Mr. Regano said. Their effort is "to stop the dangerous practice of taking locally levied money from school districts," he said.
Mr. Regano thanked members of the public who have participated in the writing campaign. He said some of the copies of the letters he has seen are comprehensive in their enlightenment on the school funding issues.
"Continue to write," he said. When it goes into the Senate in May, "we're going to go through all this again."
Mr. Regano said that state Rep. Marlene Anielski, R-Walton Hills, who represents Solon and sits on the Finance and Appropriations Committee, has shown support for the district.
Mrs. Glavin said she met Monday in Columbus with officials from other school districts who were equally impacted by the budget bill and that they are not seeking a temporary remedy, as legislators did in 2005 when they "ran out of time." The group wants the matter resolved now, she said. "That's the hope of everyone there."
She said the consensus of the group was that the "attention of the voters" to the legislature is "carrying a lot of weight right now," and they "urge people to continue to do that."
Mrs. Glavin said she believes legislators are "understanding better" what the issues are from testimony of districts like Solon.
"Some of the argument is over how to solve the budget problem," Mr. Regano said. "I'm not sure we understand state finances enough to give them that solution. We will give them what we think the options are."
He said the district has lost 58 percent of its state foundation funding. "But by far the biggest piece is eight years going forward.
"Certainly for the one-year budget issue, with the passage of the levy, we could make do and make changes that we need to make," he said. "The issue is not one year, it's eight years."
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