CENTERVILLE CITY SCHOOLS
Levy details: 5.9-mill 10-year levy for current operating expenses. It would cost the owner of a $100,000 home $206.50 per year and generate $9.55 million annually.
Year-end enrollment: 7,837.
State report card indicators met for 2012-13: 24 of 24.
Previous state report card ratings: “Excellent with Distinction” for 2011-12, 2010-11, 2008-9 and 2007-8; “Excellent” for 2009-10.
Administrators’ average salary: $95, 526. (State average $76,037)
Classroom teachers’ average salary: $63,420. (State average: $57,904)
Expenditure per pupil: $11,527.
Revenue per pupil: $10,860.
Source: Ohio Department of Education (FY 2012), Centerville City Schools.
IN-DEPTH SCHOOL LEVY COVERAGE
The November ballot is packed with school levies, and our team is looking into the finances of our local districts and getting you the information you need to make an informed choice.
Each day this week, we will focus on a different school with a levy on the ballot. Today we looked at Centerville Schools.
Here’s the schedule for the rest of the week.
Monday: Huber Heights Schools.
Tuesday: Lebanon Schools
Wednesday; Kettering Schools.
Thursday: Springboro Schools.
Friday: Beavercreek Schools.
Saturday: Oakwood Schools.
We’ll also have coverage on other districts throughout October.
WHIO REPORTS SPECIAL
Watch a special edition of WHIO Reports with Jim Otte and Terry Morris on Sunday, Oct. 20. Tune to Channel 7 at 11:30 a.m. for a conversation with school leaders from Huber Heights, Kettering and Springboro. Listen to the show at 8:30 a.m. Sunday on 95.7 FM and AM 1290 WHIO.
VOTERS GUIDE ONLINE
Learn more about candidates and issues on the Nov. 5 ballot in our interactive voters guide at vote.daytondailynews.com
LIVE CHAT ON MONDAY.
Join us from 1 to 2 p.m. on Monday at DaytonDailyNews.com for a live web chat with Centerville Schools Superintendent Tom Henderson. He'll answer your questions about the district's levy on the November ballot.
After two levy defeats by less than 1 percent in the past year, Centerville City Schools will try again on Nov. 5.
The new proposal, an 5.9-mill measure with a 10-year limit, is not a re-run. It would cost the owner of a $100,000 home less than $13 per month.
The 5.9-mill levy that was voted down 17,189 to 17,029 in November 2012 would have been permanent. That outcome was so close it triggered a mandatory recount.
The issue that failed 6,726 to 6,587 in May was for 6.9 mills. Voters in 20 precincts approved it. Voters in the other 20 rejected it.
Superintendent Thomas Henderson said the board of education and administrators devoted attention and focus groups over the summer to analyze “whether citizens believe the schools are still spending more than they need or whether the last two levy defeats have been the result of opposition to any new taxation.”
The takeaway was that “while there is growing anti-tax sentiment, it’s also true that times are still tough. Some families are still coming out of the economic decline. Participation in our free and reduced lunch program has increased considerably,” Henderson said.
“The overall perception of our schools remains very positive. We are still the number one reason people move to this community.”
Henderson said the schools’ longstanding quality will take a serious hit without the money.
“We’ve made a lot of cuts over the past four years, but we’ve protected the classroom core. I think of it like the bull’s eye surrounded by concentric circles. We’ve removed some of those outer rings. That hasn’t been without consequence. It’s been hard. But if this levy fails, it will be painful. We’re getting close to the bull’s eye.”
Cuts being considered include: number of teachers, meaning an increase in pupil-teacher ratio; advanced placement and honor’s courses, transportation of students, athletic programs, co-curricular programs and quasi-academic areas.
“If the levy passes we aren’t going to be adding things. We’re just going to maintain current levels,” he said.
The base pay of faculty and staff has been frozen for three years. The current teacher contract expires in March 2014.
The district was rated excellent with distinction on the latest state report card.
Henderson said the the figure for administrators’ average salary could be misleading because the district has no assistant principals in its elementary or middle schools.
“We have the lowest overall administrative cost in the area and the eighth lowest of 614 Ohio districts.”
Centerville High School’s total of 45 National Merit Scholars “is probably more than all but one or two other schools in Ohio. That’s a testament to our district, teachers and curriculum from K-12,” Henderson said.
District treasurer Mitch Biederman said the new levy would cost the owner of a $100,000 home $206.50 per year. “It would generate an annual fixed amount of $9.55 million as estimated by the Montgomery County auditor.”
In 2012, the district refinanced the terms of a 2005 bond issue, resulting in a .5-mill reduction for property owners.
More debt will expire in January, reducing the bond rate 1.68 mills, Biederman said.
State funding to Centerville Schools will increase by an estimated $670,000 in 2014 and $1.2 million in 2015, but federal funding will be reduced 7 percent and the state’s elimination of the homestead exemption and property tax rollback will cost many homeowners money.
Regarding resistance to taxation, Henderson said, “Several years ago, a number of good, big and growing districts in the Cincinnati area were struggling to pass levies. It was only a matter of time before that moved into our area. I think we’re seeing that now, not just here, but in districts like Beavercreek, Vandalia Butler and Huber Heights.”
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