DaytonDailyNews.com

After the Dayton school levy failed a year ago last week, one of the school board's responses was to ask a blue-ribbon panel to tell the district where it could save money. That group hired a consultant, and her report is in.

Though Linda Recio of Evergreen Solutions didn't put any numbers on her recommendations, she has pointed out places where the district could cut costs, mainly relating to transportation and food service. But by no means is she talking about saving anywhere near $30 million — the amount in cuts that were made after the levy loss.

The consultant's presentation on Thursday, May 1 was divided between discussing things her team thought the district was doing well and where it could improve. She pulled her punches more in her public remarks than she did in the written report. Even there, though, you have to read between the lines to realize that she has serious criticisms of some of Dayton's practices.

For example, Ms. Recio points to numerous restrictive provisions in union contracts, and she also notes that Dayton doesn't have pay-for-performance plans. She also said that the district is not consistently using data well, specifically to address why particular students aren't making more academic progress.

The board should be commended for asking for the report, and the business community should be applauded for paying $65,000 of the $75,000 fee.

One benefit of this oversight work is that numerous business representatives on the panel have seen the work that's gone in to the analysis. If they weren't convinced before, they have to know now that the district isn't hiding any buried treasure.

Board members are proceeding as if the report is the foundation for bringing back a levy request in November. But, in fact, selling a major levy isn't going to be any easier this year than it was a year ago.

If test scores go down this year, which teachers are predicting on account of the cuts; if Superintendent Percy Mack and his top deputy leave (they both have been interviewing); that's two very important strikes against the campaign. Meanwhile, the economy is, if anything, worse than it was a year ago.

Campaigns are expensive and time-consuming distractions. If Dayton were to lose twice, recovering from that amount of rejection would not be easy.

On the other hand, if the district doesn't pass a levy this year, it won't realize new property tax money until the 2010-11 school year. That would require the district to cut its academic programs to bare bones for three years — an eternity in the life of children, especially those who are academically behind.

Teachers complain that the cuts have reduced their time with students. Their morale is low after seeing more than 200 of their colleagues laid off. Some teachers have taken assignments they didn't really want, and principals have had so much turnover, they've lost the camaraderie that they've tried to build.

These problems are largely invisible to the public, but not to students and their parents.

The school board members who think they absolutely have to ask for a levy this year are not crazy. But they also have to be focused on important, practical issues:

Who's going to lead the campaign? Who's going to be running the district day-to-day if Superintendent Mack quits?

Can voters be asked to put their confidence in an interim superintendent if it comes to that?

If the levy loses a second time, doesn't that make it harder to recruit a quality leader and teachers?

The choices the board makes are important not just to Dayton students and teachers, but also to the city and the region. The reputation of the district is not good, but it has been improving in the last few years.

That work — and much more — is being undone. And things could get even worse.

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