ODE reports on its website that 19 districts statewide are in fiscal caution.
Fairborn Treasurer Eric Beavers said that designation will put the district in the state loan fund, borrowing money from the state to operate. The district must pay back borrowed funds.
Both districts are looking at returning to voters in May, with officials saying they have no choice but to seek larger levies than were defeated in November.
Beavers said he will recommend the school board — which meets at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in City Council chambers — approve placing an 11.7-mill emergency levy on the ballot to generate $7 million annually over 10 years.
“It’s higher because we lost a year of tax collections,” Beavers said. Fairborn voters rejected a 7.4-mill emergency levy in November.
The Huber Heights Board of Education already decided to seek voter approval of an additional 9.95-mill operating levy that would generate $6.7 million over a continuous period. An 8-mill levy was defeated in November.
Huber Heights Superintendent Sue Gunnell said the larger levy will present a challenge in the community where voters have defeated three straight requests for new operating funds. District voters haven’t approved new operating dollars since 2005.
“They’ve all been rather soundly defeated,” Gunnell said. “It’s very much of a concern out there, not only in the community but on my part as far as the challenge we have ahead of us. If it continues to not pass, the need for more money continues to increase.”
Budget cuts also are a part of Huber Heights’ cost reduction plan that was filed with the ODE on Dec. 28, meeting a year-end deadline although the school board had tabled its vote on Dec. 20. The cuts, along with the levy, meet the ODE’s request to turn in a plan to effectively reduce costs and generate revenue.
The school board will take up the plan at its meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the high school auditorium. With more than 6,000 students, Huber Heights is the fifth largest district in the Dayton area. It faces a $2.7 million deficit by June 30, 2014. The plan would eliminate 108 staff positions, all athletics and all extracurricular activities for the 2013-14 school year if its levy fails in May.
The $6.4 million in cuts would include a 3 percent reduction in pay for administrators next school year — the first time the district has taken this step.
The administrative pay cut would save the district $86,600 next school year and would replace an earlier proposal calling for administrators to take a furlough day, saving the district about $13,000.
Fairborn school officials have not yet specified where they would make a new round of cuts to address a projected $4.1 million deficit by the end of fiscal year 2014. They have to submit a plan to ODE by March 14.
Without new revenue, Beavers said the district faces being unable to make its payroll this July because it is looking at an end balance of $21,700 when it closes its books on June 30.
“My fear is coming true,” Beavers said. “We cannot cut our way out of this.”
About the Author