Badin vs. Fredericktown
Miamisburg graduation 2012
Valley View vs. Greenville
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.
Scott Elliott is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He writes about education, city and suburban issues, politics, business, workforce and consumer issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2010 > October > 04
Monday, October 4, 2010
Editorial: Budget fixed, Jefferson levy will help kids
2010 Election
You have to admire what Richard Gates has done as superintendent of Jefferson Twp. schools. Just four days after the then-calculus teacher at Jefferson High School was named to the job in 2008, he learned the district’s finances were in such a mess that the state was displacing the school board and taking control. Two years later, it’s amazing how things have changed.
Jefferson schools are fiscally sound, and leaders are optimistic that academic improvements will soon follow. Voters can confidently say “yes” to the district’s renewal levy and know their tax dollars will be carefully spent on helping kids learn.
Mr. Gates said that in the very first conversation he had with state officials after the takeover, one of them suggested the only way to save the district was to “blow it up.”
But Mr. Gates thought disbanding Jefferson schools and putting students under the control of neighboring districts was the wrong solution for kids. He told the state that he’d do whatever it took to save the district.
“They have done one tremendous job of getting their finances in order,” Mike Watson, chairman of the state committee overseeing Jefferson schools, says today.
Remarkably, the district is poised to emerge from state control with a clean bill of financial health. Mr. Watson says he expects to recommend releasing Jefferson from state supervision at a meeting this month.
Mr. Gates is blunt about the failings of the past. “We deserved it,” he says of the takeover. “There was no accountability and no controls.”
In response, Mr. Gates has taken a hard line. He’s dumped bad contracts, cut spending and eliminated positions that weren’t critical. For example, he now supervises transportation and maintenance himself. The central office now has five positions, down from 15, he says.
Consider another example. Jefferson Twp. has a high percentage of special-needs students who were served by the Montgomery County Educational Service Center at a cost of about $1 million a year. Mr. Gates figured out the district could hire its own special education staff and offer the program itself — with an expected savings of $750,000 annually.
He directed federal stimulus aid to building repairs and upgrades to make room for the kids this fall. That savings is big money to a district with an annual budget that is less than $9 million. Mr. Gates also demanded accountability from teachers. After he beefed up evaluations, about 10 percent of the teaching staff was let go.
He says the key to keeping a teaching job in Jefferson Twp. now will be demonstrating that kids are learning.
Jefferson schools only have about 500 kids in a township with a similarly tiny tax base. It must do a great job educating kids as cheaply as possible to justify its existence. Mr. Gates is saying it can be done.
The district’s 2-mill renewal levy, which does not raise taxes, is critical to helping him continue to save the district.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment | Categories: 2010 endorsements, Editorials, Education, Scott Elliott, Suburban Communities
TweetEditorial: Martin best pick for Greene House district
2010 ELECTION
Republican Jarrod Martin is a first-term state representative from Beavercreek, representing also Xenia and Fairborn. The main news coming out of his first term was a primary challenge, which he survived with room to spare. He probably benefited from the race, gaining added name recognition.
A former Beavercreek City Council member, the 31-year-old hasn’t exactly emerged as a major force in the Legislature. But he looks to have a chairmanship in the realm of alternative energy sources if his party takes control of the House.
Looking ahead to the most pressing problem the state faces — a looming budget deficit estimated at $4 billion to $8 billion — Rep. Martin says that, although he has never voted for a tax increase, he has difficulty seeing how one can be avoided now.
As his preface suggests, Rep. Martin’s record has been conservative. But he was not among the staunch conservatives who opposed even the The Third Frontier.
Democrats are putting up a candidate who’s a cut above the usual for a party in a district where the deck is overwhelmingly stacked against it. Mike Watters, 62, has led an unusually interesting life. He was an ironworker on the first dormitory at Wright State University, on the Schuster Center and at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He’s been an English teacher in China, while sharing his religious beliefs against the wishes of the government. He’s been a minister in Oklahoma.
But he hasn’t held local office, and his connections are more with the labor union movement than with the district. Greene County’s Democratic Party chairman was looking for a respectable candidate, and he found somebody with the time and the interest.
It’s good that Greene Democrats aren’t giving up, that they aren’t letting Republicans walk to re-election. But the party — state or local — isn’t putting up real money.
Mr. Watters path to nomination has been different in instructive ways from the contest in which Mr. Martin prevailed when he was first elected: four current or former Republican city council members from around the district were among those seeking the nomination.
Mr. Watters does not claim to have studied his opponent’s record. He does criticize him for supporting a Tea Party-type initiative criticizing Washington for overstepping the U.S. Constitution. He also says his opponent’s staunchly conservative, anti-big government posture makes no sense for a district so connected to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Ultimately, it’s not a strong enough indictment. The district has an investment in Mr. Martin. He’s a constructive player. He still needs to carve out a bigger role, but re-electing him makes sense.
(A letter of endorsement for each candidate is here.)
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment | Categories: 2010 endorsements, Editorials, Martin Gottlieb, Miami Valley Politics, Suburban Communities
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