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Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2008 > July > 27
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Stanic: Dayton levy won’t exceed 6 mills
Kurt Stanic
Interim city school Superintendent Kurt Stanic promised an upcoming November levy will be no more than 6 mills, or one-third the size of the district’s 2007 levy try.
In a meeting with the Dayton Daily News editorial board, Stanic said he would never support a levy the size of the 15.17-mill levy that was soundly defeated in May of 2007.
“Somebody convinced them they were asking for what they needed,” Stanic said of the school board last year. “There is a political reality to this.”
Stanic said he wants a levy that will cost the average city homeowner about $10 a month and he will craft a “recovery” plan for the district to adapt to a new financial reality whether the levy passes or fails.
“We need to be plain to the public about what is going to happen,” he said.
Stanic also commented on several other issues facing the district, including:
—Report card rating. Stanic said the district is still reviewing its test data from the school year just completed but that he expected the district would be rated in “academic emergency” when the state issues district report cards next month.
Two years ago, Dayton leaped from the bottom of the state rankings to the middle of five rating categories before falling back one spot to “academic watch” last year. Slipping another rung down the ladder returns Dayton to the bottom of the state’s rankings.
—Labor relations. The school board and teachers’ union have a tentative agreement on a new one-year labor deal that will give teachers a 2 percent raise. Last year, teachers got no raise following the levy defeat.
Teachers’ union President Pat Lynch said she hopes her members will vote on the agreement Aug. 7.
“There is nothing on paper at this point but there is a tentative agreement and our members do not have it yet,” she said. “Hopefully it will be out on our Web site in a couple of days.”
—Central office reorganization. A new central office structure that will eliminate several unfilled positions among other changes will be announced next week, he said, and will save the district about $2.2 million.
—Priorities. Stanic listed three major priorities for the district for the 2008-09 school year: passing the levy, improving discipline in the classroom and refocusing administrators and teachers on instruction.
He said a new discipline code will be put in place for the upcoming school year and that he will expect principals to enforce it or he will personally investigate problem schools. For teachers, Stanic said he wants them to use data to target student weaknesses and tailor instruction to meet them.
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