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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > October > 10
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Editorial: Xenia, Cedarville voters should say yes to bond issues
2009 ELECTION
Two Greene County school districts have tremendous opportunities to improve their school buildings at a deeply discounted cost that voters should not pass up.
Xenia is asking voters for $34.6 million for the local share of the cost to build five new elementary schools on Nov. 3. The issue (including a half-mill for maintenance of schools) would equate to 3.2 mills and would be collected over 38 years beginning in 2013. The cost in new taxes for the owner of a $100,000 home would be $16.70 a year for the first three years for the maintenance levy alone and $98 a year beginning in 2013 when collections begin for the bonds.
For Cedar Cliff, which serves Cedarville and its surrounding area, a proposed 8.5-mill bond issue for 28 years would cost the owner of a $100,000 home $260 annually. It is coupled with a 0.25 percent income tax hike for the same period. The package would fund the local share of a new $11.7 million K-12 school for about 670 students.
In both cases, the state will use money from Ohio’s share of the national tobacco settlement, which has fueled school construction in Ohio for a decade, to pay for about half of the construction costs.
In Xenia, the state’s share is 46 percent of the cost for five new schools. For Cedar Cliff, the state is paying 52 percent of the tab for its new districtwide school.
In Xenia’s case, this fall’s bond issue is dramatically slimmed down from the two previous failed bond levy tries last November and May. This version of the levy drops plans for a new high school, cutting the request by more than half.
The $60 million Xenia project will build five larger elementary schools, replacing seven smaller schools in operation today. Superintendent Jeffrey Lewis said extensive surveying showed the community rejected the notion that a new high school was needed but largely agreed that the elementary schools should be replaced.
This will be Cedar Cliff’s first request to voters for funds for a new school. The original portion of its school was built in 1917, followed by four more additions through the years.
The new school would be built on the same site.
In both communities, the new schools should serve the district’s students for generations. And to pass on the state money could result in the districts having to build new schools on their own some day at a much higher local cost, when current buildings deteriorate to the point when repairs become too costly to maintain them.
The Ohio School Facilities Program has put state-of-the-art school buildings, with the latest technology and learning tools, all over the Dayton area. The kids in Xenia and Cedarville should not lose out on the opportunity to learn in facilities equal to their peers’.
The state and the local school districts are combining to offer voters a great bargain. Voters should say yes to both bond issues.
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