Revere Levy Looms

A familiar question is hanging over the Revere Local Schools community and the residents who pay property taxes.

On May 3, they will decide, again, whether or not to pass a tax levy for additional funds to the school district, a 10-year, 4.83 mill emergency operating levy that would raise about $4,763,000 a year.

Opponents of the tax increase have charged the district with poor financial management and want to bring new members to the school board.

Superintendent Randy Boroff said a tax levy  is the only way for a district to increase revenue. If the levy fails, the district will have to reduce personnel, programs and services. “It will impact every aspect of the school district,” he said.

The district already has made plans to lay off 34 teachers next year and make other cuts in services if the ballot initiative fails to pass.

Revere Treasurer David Forrest said that, besides the teacher cuts, the district would have to cut other staff and may implement pay-to-participate policies in extra-curricular activities, from band to baseball. Services like transportation could also be affected.

A state school voucher program could also cost the district more than $1 million a year, he said. Revere currently has 369 students in its district that are educated elsewhere, but it remains to be seen how many more would participate in a voucher program if restrictions on vouchers are relaxed. An issue to change the regulations on vouchers is favored by Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Teachers have reportedly made concessions such as cutting all pay increases and increasing health care costs in contract negotiations with the district for next school year’s contracts.

Larry Chlebina, treasurer for the anti-levy group Citizens for Responsible School Administration, said he opposes the district’s spending. He advocates not increasing spending as much as in previous fiscal forecasts the district made.

Chlebina has said the teacher cuts are a scare tactic, since there's no certainty substantial cuts to education funding proposed in the state budget will be approved by legislators. 

Although Revere was successful in passing a renewal levy in February by a wide margin, they  have not been successful in recent attempts to secure new money.

One measure failed with 53 percent of voters against it. And in May of 2010, another effort, for a larger levy, failed with almost 62 percent of voters against it.

Chlebina worked against those efforts. He hired a public relations firm, advertised and sent out mailings, and is undertaking a similar campaign this year.

He did not oppose a renewal levy earlier this year, saying the district needed that money.

Chlebina said he wants the community to vote the levy down until November, when school board members Bill Hoover, Mario Benacci and Joe Forcina are up for re-election. He said his group plans to endorse candidates with more fiscal responsibility. 

He declined to say who those candidates would be, but said he would not be a candidate.

Chlebina's group may have more of a contest this year because the pro-levy campaign is much stronger.

The citizens group Families and Communities Together for Schools, or F.A.C.T.S.
came about after the levy failed in November, and has grown to more than 500 members. Dave Gifford, the group's president,  said the district needs the money to maintain its educational standards. Revere Schools have been rated “excellent” by the state for 11 years in a row.

Gifford’s group, like Chlebina’s, is trying to reach out to voters through mail, open houses and other methods. “I think people are realizing this is an important issue,” Gifford said. The group plans a rally May 1 at Revere High School.