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State audit identifies savings of $860,000 a year, including firing teachers
By John Higgens
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 09:56 p.m. EST, Dec 04, 2008
State auditor Mary Taylor has recommended that the Northwest school district cut its teaching staff down to state minimum requirements, according to a performance audit released Thursday.
The audit identifies a potential savings of $860,000 a year if the district fires nine regular education teachers and five special education teachers, eliminates three buses, requires employees to double their health-care contribution to 10 percent and buys an automated system to handle work orders.
But the district — which already implemented $1.5 million in cuts at the end of the last school year, including the elimination of 22 full-time jobs — needs an additional $1.3 million in cuts to remain in the black in the future.
The school board has identified where those cuts will be made if the district can't pass a new operating levy. The reductions would bring programming to near state minimums in many areas.
But even then, Northwest will have little wiggle room as the national and state economies grow worse, said Superintendent William Stetler. The district will be among the most vulnerable if conditions don't improve.
''We have absolutely no fat on our bones to overcome that drought,'' Stetler said.
The Canal Fulton-area district, which includes parts of Wayne and Summit as well as Stark counties, has not passed an operating levy for new taxes in 16 years and has lost its last seven levy requests, plus a district income tax.
Voters rejected a 12.8-mill operating levy on the November ballot by 15 votes in Stark County, but by larger majorities in Wayne and Summit counties. The same levy is on the Feb. 3 special election ballot.
The district ended the last school year with a $1.1 million deficit, prompting the Ohio Department of Education to place Northwest in fiscal caution. The district could slip into fiscal watch or emergency if it cannot operate in the black by 2010.
The audit compares Northwest to 10 ''peer'' districts described by the state as ''urban-suburban — high median income,'' including North Canton, Jackson and Lake districts in Stark County, Green in Summit and Wadsworth in Medina.
Northwest spends about $266,000 less on discretionary expenditures than the peer district average and has fewer employees per 1,000 students than the peer average, according to the audit.
The district spends more money on special education than peer districts, $7,466 per student compared with a peer average of $6,802 in 2006-2007.
Stetler said the audit confirmed the district's suspicions that special education was getting more than its share of the budget, but he noted that it's difficult to make reductions because of federal legal requirements. And the district met its federal goals for that subgroup in achievement tests.
Stetler said the audit confirmed what the district already knew: that the district's main problem is lack of revenue, not excess spending.
In the 2006-2007 fiscal year, Northwest collected $2,858 per student in local property and income tax compared to the peer average of $4,237 per student.
''The district's total revenues are lower than the peer average by $281 per student, mainly due to the lower property and income tax receipts,'' according to the audit.
John Higgins can be reached at 330-996-3792 or jhiggins@thebeaconjournal.com.
State auditor Mary Taylor has recommended that the Northwest school district cut its teaching staff down to state minimum requirements, according to a performance audit released Thursday.
The audit identifies a potential savings of $860,000 a year if the district fires nine regular education teachers and five special education teachers, eliminates three buses, requires employees to double their health-care contribution to 10 percent and buys an automated system to handle work orders.
But the district — which already implemented $1.5 million in cuts at the end of the last school year, including the elimination of 22 full-time jobs — needs an additional $1.3 million in cuts to remain in the black in the future.
The school board has identified where those cuts will be made if the district can't pass a new operating levy. The reductions would bring programming to near state minimums in many areas.
But even then, Northwest will have little wiggle room as the national and state economies grow worse, said Superintendent William Stetler. The district will be among the most vulnerable if conditions don't improve.
''We have absolutely no fat on our bones to overcome that drought,'' Stetler said.
The Canal Fulton-area district, which includes parts of Wayne and Summit as well as Stark counties, has not passed an operating levy for new taxes in 16 years and has lost its last seven levy requests, plus a district income tax.
Voters rejected a 12.8-mill operating levy on the November ballot by 15 votes in Stark County, but by larger majorities in Wayne and Summit counties. The same levy is on the Feb. 3 special election ballot.
The district ended the last school year with a $1.1 million deficit, prompting the Ohio Department of Education to place Northwest in fiscal caution. The district could slip into fiscal watch or emergency if it cannot operate in the black by 2010.
The audit compares Northwest to 10 ''peer'' districts described by the state as ''urban-suburban — high median income,'' including North Canton, Jackson and Lake districts in Stark County, Green in Summit and Wadsworth in Medina.
Northwest spends about $266,000 less on discretionary expenditures than the peer district average and has fewer employees per 1,000 students than the peer average, according to the audit.
The district spends more money on special education than peer districts, $7,466 per student compared with a peer average of $6,802 in 2006-2007.
Stetler said the audit confirmed the district's suspicions that special education was getting more than its share of the budget, but he noted that it's difficult to make reductions because of federal legal requirements. And the district met its federal goals for that subgroup in achievement tests.
Stetler said the audit confirmed what the district already knew: that the district's main problem is lack of revenue, not excess spending.
In the 2006-2007 fiscal year, Northwest collected $2,858 per student in local property and income tax compared to the peer average of $4,237 per student.
''The district's total revenues are lower than the peer average by $281 per student, mainly due to the lower property and income tax receipts,'' according to the audit.
John Higgins can be reached at 330-996-3792 or jhiggins@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
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akron, OH
Posted 08:53 AM, 12/05/2008
I think it is a shame that the voters of Northwest School District do not do the right thing and pass the much needed levy. 16 years is a long time of not supporting your local schools. How many of the citizens there still live on the same pay they made 16 years ago? I'll bet zero. It is a wonderful school district with great state ranking in teaching the children.I wish the residents would stop voting down the levy because in the end it is their property value that will go down and in todays economy that will hurt more than paying $30 a month to keep their schools afloat. Please do the right thing residents of the Northwest School District vote yes for the levy in February. Keep your schools great and show your support.
