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School levy defeat is not an option in Dayton
Sunday, October 05, 2008
With just a month left until Election Day, one issue Dayton and the region will be hearing a lot about is the Dayton school levy.
Even if you don't have children in Dayton's schools, even if you don't live in Dayton, the levy is your concern. You'd be doing the city and the wider community a service if you found a way to help. Even if you don't live in Dayton proper, you can contribute to the campaign, you can go door-to-door, you can work on Election Day to help get people to the polls. (For information about volunteering, check out www.daytonsfuture.org.)
All that too many people know and hear about the city of Dayton is that its schools are troubled. Without a doubt, the district fails too many kids. But refusing to support the schools financially is not the answer to bringing up test scores, getting more students into college and attracting people to live in the city. And if the levy is defeated, the pockets of success — the schools and classrooms where children are indeed achieving — are more likely to be emptied out.
The district has made substantial cuts in the wake of the levy failure in May 2007. Two hundred teachers were let go. More than $30 million has been cut from the budget. As a percentage of the district's spending, that's about 16 percent.
That number is a good one to remember. It's also been 16 years since Dayton has passed a school levy that's provided new local operating money (though, of course, the state has increased its support in that period). If there's another district in the state that's gone that long without new local dollars, it, too, has to be in a world of hurt.
The levy request is for 4.9 mills — or a $96 annual tax increase for those owning a $59,000 home. That average home value is telling. Many of Dayton's homes are modest to begin with, but housing prices today are especially depressed on account of the predatory lending that has devastated so many streets and blocks.
For many homeowners, an $8-a-month property tax increase would be a struggle. But the investment has to be made. More budget cuts and more kids in every classroom are not the way out of the myriad problems facing the district. (There currently are no extra activities for middle school students, and in 22 elementary classrooms, teachers have a split class and are teaching two grades.)
In 2007, the district asked for a 15.17-mill levy. Voters trounced the idea. The school board got the message. This time around, it's asking for a minimal amount. To reject even this small increase would be a statement that too many good people are giving up on public education in Dayton.
Public schools aren't — and can't be allowed to become — a lost cause.
Interim Superintendent Kurt Stanic, who's getting good reviews for managing steep cuts, says, "We will control the budget, but it will be through people." His choices are not what programs to cut, but what people to lay off.
If this levy is going to pass, it will take tremendous outreach — to undecideds, to those who are angry or disappointed, and to people who are indifferent or don't think their vote will matter. Reaching those voters will require public officials talking to groups; pastors imploring their congregations; parents sacrificing their time to campaign; neighbors committing to telling other neighbors how important the schools are.
Dayton is in the midst of building new schools throughout the city. Those buildings are beacons in neighborhoods that are crying out for reinvestment. And they are tremendous bright spots in the lives of needy children. If there aren't enough teachers to fill them, or if teachers can't be confident enough to choose to work in the district, the buildings will be hollow shells of what they might be for children.
Nobody likes paying more in taxes, but demanding that an overwhelmed district keep doing more with less is not a smart choice.
Vote for Issue 52.
