MIAMI CO. GOP TO REPLACE ELECTION BOARD MEMBERS
Some Jefferson Twp. residents wanted to join Valley View.
The state school board this week rejected dozens of residents’ requests to transfer their land from Jefferson Twp. schools to neighboring Valley View schools, in what had become a tense fight.
The petitioners had cited dissatisfaction with Jefferson Twp. schools, pointing to poor state report card grades and a lack of agricultural classes and 4H programs, among other issues.
Tabitha Justice, the attorney representing the Jefferson Twp. school district, alleged last year that “racial animus” motivated the petition, as Jefferson’s student body is 75 percent black, while Valley View is 94 percent white.
Members of the petitioning group denied that claim, saying the concern was quality of education. A state hearing officer agreed with them, writing last month that “the educational opportunities available to the students in the territory, especially the vocational agriculture classes
continued from B1 and programs, will be vastly improved by the granting of this transfer.”
But the state school board voted 10-7-1 to reject the hearing officer’s recommendation and deny the transfer, after a 45-minute debate. Justice said Jefferson school officials are glad the state considered the potential impact on all of its students.
“We know that parents throughout the district only want what is in the best interest for their children, and we are hopeful that everyone can now come together to move the district forward,” she said.
Merle Wilberding and Chris Conard, attorneys for the petitioning families, said they are disappointed in the decision and will review it with the petitioners and decide whether to appeal.
Neither the petitioners nor Jefferson schools officials addressed the state board Tuesday, leaving the members to sort out hundreds of pages of competing arguments. State board member Meryl Johnson raised the case against the transfer, wondering why almost 9 square miles of land needed to be moved to another district to benefit what the hearing report said were four or five students currently attending Jefferson schools.
“My main concern is that we’re talking about further segregating an already segregated area,” she said.
In legal briefs, the families’ attorneys pointed out that since only a few students were involved, even Jefferson officials had said the impact on the racial makeup of the district would be minimal. Later, they wrote that some other students currently attending private schools might go to Valley View if the transfer was approved.
Board member Linda Haycock called it “a crime” if Jefferson would lose $450,000 in property tax revenue, and any educational programming the money funded, for the benefit of a few students.
Board members John Hagan and Eric Poklar both suggested a smaller piece of the district could be transferred, to benefit only the students in question. When a few other board members said they would support that, there was talk of tabling the issue for a month to work on that.
But Ohio Department of Education chief legal counsel Diane Lease said the board could not alter the petition on its own, leading to a vote, and a 10-7-1 rejection of the transfer. Charlotte McGuire, the state board member who represents Montgomery County, was the one person who abstained.
Haycock at one point suggested the families who sought the transfer should simply attend Valley View via open enrollment. But while 82 percent of Ohio school districts allow students from neighboring districts to “open enroll,” Valley View, and a slight majority of Montgomery County districts, do not.
State board member Kirsten Hill said the case should be a reminder to the legislature about Ohio schools’ reliance on property taxes, which years ago led the State Supreme Court to find Ohio’s school funding system unconstitutional.
“When these parents bought that house, they knew what district they were moving into,” board member Antoinette Miranda said. “If they want to move and go to another district, then they should buy a house in that district.”
The Dayton Unit NAACP, which wrote a letter to state board members opposing the transfer, released a letter Thursday from Jefferson Superintendent Richard Gates, thanking the NAACP.
“When it came time for the State Board of Education members to make a decision, it was apparent that each board member understood the significance of what it meant to have the NAACP to be in opposition of this transfer,” Gates’ letter said. “We are eternally grateful to the NAACP.”