TUESDAY, APRIL 18, 2000
Tiffin board of education, council discuss future of city schools
By Cathy Willoughby
Staff Writer
Looking for leadership and a glimpse into what their counterparts in Tiffin city government are hearing from their constituents, the Tiffin City Board of Education attended a City Council Committee of the Whole meeting Monday night in city hall.
Superintendent Denise Callihan began a discussion by explaining how the board and administration had spent the past two years working toward a decision regarding the future of their school facilities.
The district has applied for a "Exceptional Needs Facilities" grant which would provide 45 percent of the funding for a new school facility. The board is reviewing which architectural firm to hire if the grant is approved.
Third Ward Councilman Todd Edmond sees need for improvement at the high schools.
"As somebody who has been a part of the discussions and who has worked in the junior high, it is obvious we have needed to take look at improving the facilities,'' Edmond said. "At Columbian, the hallways are incredibly overcrowded. We need to do something.''
Councilman-At-Large Mark Hayes asked about the future of funding sources from the state government.
"The Legislature has felt that they have met the mandates set by the first Ohio Supreme Court decision.'' board member Chris English replied. "And now we have seen the effect of the recent real estate reappraisals. I am sure all of your constituents have discussed with you the impact of their tax bill. Even though locally taxes go up, we are penalized by the state of Ohio.''
"When you add it all together, we have a small increase,'' board member John Bolte said of the effect of the real estate reappraisals. "But when we subtract the losses, and we had a $1.5 million loss; the school is out a million dollars.''
Because of that, Bolte said, the district will be forced to go to the voters in the near future to ask for about 3 mills to make up for those losses.
Second Ward Councilman Paul Elchert spoke for his constituents of their dislike of higher taxes.
"I hear the concern of people actively working that they feel that they pay enough taxes, especially seniors on fixed incomes,'' Elchert said. "When you talk about school space and the availability of space, what about having two shifts per day, to free up more space for availability of more students?"
"In industry, we work three shifts, seven days a week," Elchert said. "If you could work schedules to reduce the number of people in classes, that might be a step in the right direction.''
English said that the history of building schools across the state was to build one every 35 to 40 years.
"These buildings have served us well as a community, yet there are some things you can't do in these buildings,'' he said. "Team teaching that is being done is hard to do in that environment. And the old facilities don't meet students' needs in technology. Just trying to wire the buildings is expensive.''
"It's easy to say that it was fine when we went to school, so it's fine for our kids,'' replied board member Pat Hillmer. "But we have demands we have to meet from the state, such as the new technology, and we can't do the same things with some of the buildings. It's not as simple as it might look. And having two shifts would be a radical change for the district, and many families would be very upset.''
"The schools are at the bottom of the feeding cycle,'' Bolte added. "It's the only tax anymore that people can vote on. Tiffin district taxes are lower than others, but you can only stretch that so far. I have a question for you also: Do you want to represent a city that has schools that are in such dire straits, that are financially so bad we have to two-shift our schools?''
Edmond said he understood Elchert's stance on taxes.
"I'm sure they echo throughout the state,'' Edmond added. "Yet at the same time, as a teacher, I believe more people need to get into the schools to see what is going on.''
He proposed that the council visit the schools.
"Listen to the teachers and hear what they have to say,'' he said. "We hear the taxpayers' part of it, but not the teachers' part of it. If you have two shifts of teachers, the payroll goes up.''
Mayor Bernard Hohman brought up the impact of the "health'' of the school system on economic development.
"It is very important that the public schools be viewed by prospective businesses as good,'' Hohman said. "Right now, Cleveland (school district) has a problem, they have been declared a state of emergency. It is important for us as a city body to realize that it is important for schools to be seen as doing well.''
He also noted that industries in town keep up with new methods and equipment, as should schools.
Law Director Brent Howard suggested that this was an issue where the city council might lead their constituents to an answer, through the introduction of a resolution.
"You understand economic development issues, industrial parks,'' he said to council. "We as city officials need to tell the people in our community, not just the school board. We need to tell them how they should respond to issues on the ballot.''
"We are looking for your leadership and your input for choosing the appropriate action to change that opinion and attitude, Bolte said. "We need the leadership. The board is seen as a biased group. We need to pull together a program that has to be a 'middle of the road' approach.''