November 2019 Levy Information

It has been six years since Centerville Schools asked our community for additional funding. In addition to a growing student population and the regular inflationary costs of doing business, costs have risen for school safety needs, special education, preschool, College Credit Plus, social and emotional wellness and other unfunded state mandates in recent years. During the 2018-19 school year, our expenses began to exceed our revenue, and we are now dipping into our reserve funds. Additional funding is needed to ensure we can maintain the high-quality education our students need to succeed and that will help ensure our community remains strong.

After gathering input from our community stakeholders through surveys, phone interviews and focus groups, and carefully considering the district’s financial situation and forecasts, the school district is asking for a 6.9-mill levy that includes 1-mill for permanent improvements and 5.9 mills for day-to-day operating costs. This levy will cost about $20 a month per $100,000 of home value.

Using the ballot language, property owners should note that “valuation” refers to assessed value, rather than market value. Assessed value is 35% of the market value of the home. If you start with a $100,000 home, 35% of that would be $35,000. Then you divide $35,000 by 100 because you are paying the millage on each one hundred dollars of valuation. That gives you 350, which you then multiply by $0.69 (the 6.9 mills requested), giving you an amount of $241.50 per year, or $20.12 per month.

Our school facilities – which includes 1.3 million square feet of space in 15 buildings – are aging. One of our schools is 95 years old, and several others are more than 50 years old. Maintaining our facilities and providing the kind of safe and effective learning environments today’s students need is a high priority. Some of the work we do may seem routine, and much of it may even go unnoticed, but it is the reason our schools have lasted through the years. However, as our buildings continue to age and our student population grows, there are more projects that need to be addressed than our current funding allows. The levy includes 1-mill for permanent improvements – which means those funds will be dedicated to building repairs, renovations, maintenance and other school facility and permanent improvement needs.

Operating funds are used for the day-to-day costs of our schools – things like teachers, classroom materials and utilities. Voter approval of the November levy will ensure we can continue the excellent education our community values and expects and that 21st century students need for success in college, careers and life. The levy funds will help us keep and attract quality teachers, provide up-to-date educational technology, continue college readiness and advanced placement courses, expand workforce and career pathway programs, and maintain reasonable class sizes. Without the levy, we will be faced with having to make cuts to staff and educational programs.

Levies, or voted mills, are the major source of revenue for most school districts in Ohio, but HB920 (a law enacted in 1976) basically freezes a school district’s collection rate on voted millage. So, when home values increase, a school district’s voted millage is reduced and the collection rate (also known as the effective rate) remains the same. Except a one-time increase for new construction, school districts do not see increases in collections on their voted millage due to HB920. For school districts, simply keeping up with the inflationary cost increases is extremely challenging under HB920 – and the main reason most districts need to return to taxpayers for additional revenue every few years.

Centerville Schools’ last permanent improvement (PI) levy was approved by voters in 1998 and provides about $2.5 million annually to take care of all our facilities and other PI needs, including ensuring our bus fleet can continue to provide students with safe and reliable transportation to and from school each day. Each year, the district assesses and prioritizes needed repairs, maintenance and building update projects to fit within that budget – often delaying and spreading projects out over many years. As our facilities continue to age and the cost of materials and equipment rises, the additional PI money will allow us to complete more needed building and infrastructure repairs, renovations and other long-term needs in each of our buildings, including security and technology enhancements. Here are some examples:

• Our school bus fleet has grown by 40 buses since 1998, and the purchase price of a bus has risen over time. Replacing eight or nine buses each year allows us to upgrade the entire fleet every 13-14 years rather than all at once.
• Many heating and air conditioning units throughout the district are over 20 years old. Through careful maintenance, these units have remained in service well beyond their expected lifespan and need to be replaced with more energy efficient models.
• Several projects related to safety and security could be accomplished, such as replacing doors and windows, enhancing surveillance cameras and more.
• Computers and technology equipment need to be replaced or upgraded regularly.
• Carpet replacement at Centerville High School and other large-scale projects must be tackled in phases over several years, rather than completed all at once through one bid process.

It has been six years since Centerville Schools asked voters for a new levy – the longest the district has gone without a new levy in more than four decades. We have worked diligently to balance costs while maintaining the high quality of education our students deserve and that our community expects. We have stretched those dollars as far as possible without making cuts that would erode educational quality through a number of efforts, including:

• Completing as many maintenance projects as possible that improve energy efficiency for long-term operating savings
• Procuring cost-saving contracts for energy, buses, equipment and supplies through the Southwest Ohio Education Purchasing Council, a purchasing co-op with other school districts
• Always comparing prices from vendors to ensure we are taking advantage of the best prices without diminishing quality
• Managing payroll costs with an average base salary increase of less than 2% (1.6375%) for teachers, administrators and all other staff over the last 10 years
• Self-insuring our health insurance program, which has saved the district $6.7 million – nearly $1 million dollars per year since 2012
• Self-insuring our worker’s compensation program, which has saved the district $365,000 over the last five years
• Changing dental insurance carriers, which decreased our premium costs and has saved us more than $183,000 over the past two years
• Selling unused assets on GovDeals, which has generated just under $250,000 for the district in the last eight years

During the 2018-19 school year, our expenses began to exceed our revenue, and we are now dipping into our reserve funds. So, the fact is that without the levy, our schools will be faced with having to make cuts to teaching staff and educational programs, and any additional facility repairs or improvements will be delayed. The Centerville Board of Education is in the process of reviewing budget projections with our treasurer and administration, and we will keep the community informed as decisions are made.

Centerville City Schools is one of only three school districts in Montgomery County that does not have all-day kindergarten, and implementing it here remains a priority for the district. However, some challenges have arisen since we first began exploring how to offer all-day kindergarten to our Centerville-Washington Township families. Our original plans involved reconfiguring enrollment in order to make use of available building space and accommodate the necessary additional kindergarten classrooms in our preK-5 buildings. Then, our overall enrollment grew by several hundred students in the last few years, which significantly limited the space once available in our primary and elementary buildings. In addition, the State of Ohio is now considering changes to the preschool requirements, which may necessitate even more additional classroom space and teachers – most likely without any additional funding assistance from the state. Before moving forward with any plans for all-day kindergarten, we feel it is prudent to address the challenges of our growing enrollment and ensure that any pending state legislation related to preschool doesn’t create an undue burden.

You can visit the school district’s website, www.centerville.k12.oh.us or contact Sarah Swan, Community Relations Specialist, for more information and assistance in getting the answers you need before you vote.