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May 3 - 10, 2006
Board OKs updated Continuous Improvement Plan
By ROSEMARY KUBERA
Creation and expansion of alternative education programs to aid struggling students will be studied in the coming school year, according to the South-Western City Schools' revised Continuous Improvement Plan.
Because the district is in state-defined "continuous improvement" status, a plan for academic advancement with annual updates is mandated by Ohio law.
An update was approved by the South-Western Board of Education April 24.
South-Western has been required to have a plan since the first state report card was issued for the 1998-99 school year.
Back then, the district was in academic watch status, a step above academic emergency.
The district moved up to continuous improvement status in the 2003-04 school year.
The next highest step is effective, with excellent at the top of the scale.
Although tasks change from year-to-year, goals in the Continuous Improvement Plan have remained consistent, said Harvey Nesser, executive director of special services.
Goals are to increase test scores, thereby demonstrating academic achievement, and to improve graduation and attendance rates.
The district has not yet met the state's graduation standard of 90 percent. The rate in 2003-04 was 86.9 percent. The rate for 2004-05 will be released by the state this summer. The lowest rate recorded was 75.3 percent by the class of 2002.
The district consistently has beat the state's 93 percent standard for attendance. The 2004-05 rate was 94 percent.
A summary of the plan in pamphlet form was provided to community members at the April meeting, with the entire 12-page plan provided to school board members and administration officials.
The update is more concise and focused than in previous years, Nesser said.
"New tasks were designed to affect classroom instruction," he said.
Math, social studies, science and English will be targeted for improvement at each grade level, according to the plan.
Not all grade levels were required to test in every subject in 2004-05. That year's report card shows students missed the state's 75 percent standard passage rate in math in grades 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8.
Students missed the standard in social studies or citizenship in grade 4.
They missed the science standard in grades 4, 6 and 10.
The English or reading standard was missed in grades 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8. All grades that took the writing test beat the state standard.
An elementary standards guide will be produced in the coming school year to help parents and students understand what material is expected to be learned at each grade level, the updated plan stated.
Third-graders did not meet standards for reading and math, the only tests at their grade level in 2004-05.
Fourth-graders didn't meet standards in reading, math, science and citizenship, but beat the standard in writing.
Tests will continue to be designed so results tell teachers if students are learning at grade level.
Data will continue to be analyzed to identify trends showing areas where students need extra instruction in order to master the material, the plans states.
Starting with 2005-06 scores, the district will track passage rates for Algebra 1 and 2, and for the Ohio Graduation Test.
In 2004-05, 10th-graders beat the state standard in math, but eighth-graders missed it.
"Teachers are key to student achievement," said R. Roby Schottke, executive director for instruction.
The district will continue to provide professional development classes to help teachers upgrade their skills.
And officials will consider ways to involve all staff in the education process, the plan states.
Schools studying how to realign duties after job cuts
By ROSEMARY KUBERA
Questions went unanswered this week about how the South-Western City Schools district will cope next school year with the loss of 103 teaching and teaching-support jobs.
Neither Superintendent R. Kirk Hamilton nor Deputy Superintendent Jim Nelson returned telephone calls seeking comment.
Executive Director of Special Education Harvey Nesser, is among 258.5 full- and part-time employees who is slated to be laid off at the end of this school year.
Bill Wise, assistant superintendent for curriculum, will decide who takes over Nesser's responsibilities, said Jeff Warner, district executive director of communications and community relations.
The school board voted Feb. 13 to cut $13. million from the 2006-07 school year budget, which now totals $195.8 million.
Cutting 258.5 jobs saves the district a little less than $13 million and provides a $364,000 contingency fund, Warner said.
The district expects to pay $1 million in unemployment compensation to former employees, records show.
The number of teacher and administrative cuts could be fewer depending upon how many longtime and higher-paid employees accept a $50,000 incentive to retire or resign.
Layoffs also include four high school teachers who teach Skills for the Workplace, a course that will be discontinued if the board decides to eliminate it.
Students in this class learn skills such as writing resumes, building portfolios and interviewing for jobs.
The district currently requires the course for graduation although the state does not, Warner said.
Feb. 13, the school board also approved $1.8 million in cuts from this year's budget, but none involves layoffs. This year's general fund budget now is $181 million.
The district's five-year financial forecast made by Treasurer Catherine Bulgrin was approved by the school board in October.
Since October, anticipated revenues are down $17.2 million, said Bulgrin at a school board work session last month.
The district will collect $23 million this year from the 9.7-mill levy voters passed in May 2005. Income from the levy had been expected to last through 2007.
But income dried up when districtwide property tax evaluations, and therefore property tax revenues, were lower than expected.
Reasons why, and by how much, expected revenue is down include: the state's phase out of the cost-of-doing business factor for large school districts, a loss of $6.5 million; tangible personal property tax refunds for Wal-Mart, Sally Beauty Supply and other businesses, at $1.5 million lost; and $1.5 million in increased costs for heating fuel and gasoline, Bulgrin said.
Franklin County Treasurer Richard Cordray, a school district resident, is leading an independent committee studying school income and expenses. Analysis and recommendations from Cordray's committee are pending.
"They took a lot of hits from the state, fuel costs, tax adjustments," Cordray said.
"The district doesn't have the luxury of running a deficit. By law they can't do that," he said.
Without the cuts, or a cash infusion, the district would have been $2.2 million in the red by June, and $12.6 million in the red by June 2007, Bulgrin said.
Financial times weren't always tight. Prior to unsuccessfully seeking a levy in 2004, the district had not asked for a tax increase and had operated on a fixed income since 1994, she said.
Development places pressure on area townships
Thursday, January 5, 2006
By LINDSEY NOCK
Record Staff Writer
The most noteworthy township issues for 2005 were the struggle by Jackson Township as it attempted to hold on to its tax revenue in the face of corporate and residential Tax Increment Financing agreements and Pleasant Township's preparation to tap into a new, Environmental Protection Agency-mandated sewer system.
With the year's rapid development came several requests for TIF agreements from developers of land in Jackson Township as their projects exceeded budgeted funding.
When Meijer Inc., announced its intent to build a 207,000-square-foot facility at state Route 665 and Interstate 71 in March, Grove City leaders were pleased that shoppers in Grove City would have increased options and the developed space would generate more tax dollars.
In June, the Jackson Township Trustees were informed of a $1.8-million Tax Increment Financing agreement for the Pinnacle Club Development. The agreement would be an extension of the current TIF agreement.
Trustees Bill Lotz and Dave Burris were outspoken with their opposition to the agreement, citing its unbalanced rewards for the city and township.
"The township's inside millage, the townships fire millage, is much more than the city is putting up," Lotz said at the time. "We lose a lot more than they do. As far as I'm concerned, there's no advantage for a residential TIF. I'm going to be pretty vocal against them, regardless of what they are willing to give us."
In September, Meijer Inc. came to Grove City and Jackson Township asking for a $4.8-million TIF agreement, which it said would reimburse the company for "extraneous site costs."
The extra costs came from the relocation of a stream that bisects the selected site for the store and the relocation of existing power lines. The company said moving the power lines and the stream would send the Meijer project 10 percent over budget.
Meijer threatened to pull out of development plans on the site if the TIF agreement was not approved.
Jackson Township was forthright in its opposition to the TIF agreement, saying that even if the city agreed to make the township whole, the bottom line was that after the Pinnacle TIF, the township was promised no further TIFs would be granted.
"I was promised by the administration and Bill Saxton, president of the council, that there would be no more TIFs," Lotz said at the time. "We would have never been as cooperative on the Pinnacle TIF and now, here you come with another TIF and it won't be long before you come back with another one."
According to Grove City Development Director Chuck Boso, the township currently receives about $2,700 per year in property taxes for the undeveloped Meijer site.
The city agreed to give the township somewhere between $2,700 and the $43,000 it would get from the developed site without the TIF agreement.
The township will end 2005 without a definitive decision on the TIF agreement, and will continue its struggle to prevent the TIF agreement in 2006.
Meantime, several Jackson Township Firefighters volunteered in New Orleans after the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina and the Fire Department received a new Hazardous Materials Truck, which it will use to deal with chemical and other spills throughout the county.
As for Pleasant Township, Ohio EPA allowed the township an extension on its ongoing sewer project. The Ohio EPA ordered all Franklin County residents to use sewer systems to process waste, meaning all municipalities that were using a septic system would need to build the new system and residents would need to tap into it at their own expense.
The project required the construction of a new $6-million sewer treatment plant on state Route 665.
The project was given a Dec. 15 deadline, but only 100 of the township's 300 residents expected to be connected in time. The EPA agreed to extend the deadline because the township was making incremental progress.
The township also updated its computer system, purchasing new, matching computers that could be networked to improve the efficiency of the Pleasant Township Fire Department. Also, the township's first female firefighter, Joyce Cassady, retired at 61.
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