BEAVERCREEK SCHOOLS OK $2.6M IN CUTS, LOOK TO LEVY
District cuts 34.5 jobs; May 7 levy seeks to avoid deeper cuts.
Beavercreek’s school board on Thursday night approved $2.6 million in budget cuts for 201920 and is now focused on passing a 6.15-mill levy on May 7 to avoid deepening those cuts this summer.
This fall, pay-to-participate fees will rise, course options will be reduced and school schedules will change to accommodate busing reductions. The district will cut 14.5 middle school and high school teachers, up to nine busing employees, three elementary school teacher assistants and eight other staff members, ranging from an assistant principal, the district’s last certified school librarian and custodial and grounds employees.
School officials said they had to adjust the budget now, after Beavercreek residents rejected a 6.2mill tax levy request in November. Current budget projections show the district completely running out of money in early 2021.
Thursday’s school board documents included the names of 10 teachers and several others who will be laid off in July or August. Seven of those teachers are at the middle school level, with the other three in grades 9-12. All but one had five years or less experience in Beavercreek.
Associate Superintendent Jason Enix walked the school board through course reductions for next year based on the teacher cuts. Middle school foreign language and art classes will be cut, engineering courses will be available in fewer grades and other electives will be reduced.
Superintendent Paul Otten said he views the cuts from the perspective of his own children in the district, calling the loss of opportunities “the hardest thing you see.”
“We live in a community where we expect those things, but unfortunately we also live in a community that struggles passing levies,” Otten said. “When you have a conflict like that, the only response you can have is to start making some type of reductions to try to balance that budget.”
All five school board members said they didn’t want to make the cuts, with some calling them “heartbreaking.” School board Vice President Denny Morrison said he knows this is an emotional issue for the community,
but said the board must balance its budget.
“Our experts say these are the areas that will have the least impact on students going forward,” Morrison said. “I am going to support the superintendent’s recommendations and hope that we can bring back (some programs) in the future.”
But Otten has been clear that even if the May 7 levy passes, the cuts approved Thursday will not be reinstated for 2019-20. That’s because student scheduling decisions for 2019-20 are made long before midMay, and a May levy passage would not generate new revenue until 2020.
Otten said if the May levy is rejected, the district would add to Thursday’s budget cuts for next fall — cutting busing to state minimums, eliminating the new $750 “family maximum” for pay-to-participate fees, plus cutting some academic and technology programs.
Eleven people spoke to the board before Thursday’s vote, with a majority of them urging Beavercreek schools not to eliminate the district’s last certified school librarian. They said in today’s internet information age, students need the training in research methods that librarians provide. The board still voted to eliminate that position, and the libraries will be run by non-librarian aides.
Pay-to-participate fees for sports and other extracurriculars will rise from $150 per activity to $250. The middle school and high school day will be shortened by 15 minutes, while the elementary school day will be increased by 30 minutes.
“What do we do to pull ourselves back together, because I see us falling apart,” Beavercreek teachers union president Karen Shiers said. “I want us to be strong and I want us to fight for the levy . ... How can we show the community that we stand together to support their children?”
The only change from Otten’s January recommendations was protecting one middle school art teacher position that had been set for elimination this summer, after discussions with middle school staff.
Otten said he’s heard from many residents who are disappointed in the school cuts, but also from people who applauded the moves as evidence the schools listened after voters very narrowly rejected the November levy. District leaders are now turning their focus to the May levy.
“I hope that the passion we’ve seen over the past two months, and the last week, and tonight ... I hope that passion carries over to fight for our kids,” Otten said. “The children here deserve so much more and we just have to have the money to be able to do it.”