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Buckeye Local Eliminating 13 Teaching Positions

Officials: Failure of levy, declining enrollment to blame for cuts

Buckeye Local Board of Education member Isaac Omaits reads a letter to the audience during Monday’s board meeting. Photo by Dylan McKenzie

DILLONVALE — The Buckeye Local School District will work with 13 fewer teachers during the 2018-19 school year, Superintendent Kim Leonard confirmed Monday.

Leonard said the decision didn’t come lightly, but after a levy failed to pass in November, she and other officials knew cuts would have to be made.

The 4.9-mill levy for emergency expenses in the school district aimed to generate $1.9 million per year.

If approved, it would have cost property owners 49 cents for each $100 of property valuation annually for 10 years.

However, Leonard said the levy’s failure leaves the district with few options.

“Basically, after the levy did not pass in November, we went to the drawing board to determine where we could save funds,” Leonard said.

Leonard said the district went through a performance audit near the beginning of the year, which stated the district would need to cut teaching positions in order to save money. The audit suggested the district cut 21 positions, but Leonard and others thought that would have too much of a negative effect on students’ educations.

She said one of the reasons the district is losing so much money, in addition to the levy not passing, is open enrollment, which allows a student to attend school tuition-free in a district other than the district where his or her parents reside.

“Open enrollment is killing us,” Leonard said.

She said about 300 students who live in the Buckeye Local district attend school elsewhere via open enrollment, which costs the school system $1.8 per year.

The sprawling district includes the communities of Yorkville, Tiltonsville, Rayland, Brilliant, Smithfield, Dillonvale, Adena and Harrisville. However, via open enrollment, Buckeye Local loses students to districts such as Harrison Hills, Martins Ferry and Indian Creek.

Leonard said she worked with administration officials, as well as representatives from the Classroom Teachers Association and Ohio Education Association to deterimine where cuts could be made.

The group had to follow the teachers’ contract, which states the district had to look at three factors when determining cuts: licensure, performance ratings, and seniority, in that order.

“We have to make sure we’re following the law,” Leonard said. “We wanted to make sure we didn’t make any mistakes.”

Leonard said that even after these cuts are made, the district still needs to work on saving more money. Administrators will meet representatives of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees next, and cuts are likely to be made among service personnel as well.

She said before the 2019-20 school year, they need to eliminate another $700,000 worth of spending.

Leonard said she understands parents and students in the district are angry right now, and she understands those feelings. She said that if it were possible, they would not eliminate any teaching positions, but they simply don’t have that option with the the financial situation.

“I just want the public to know these were not decisions made lightly,” Leonard said. “We have all shed many tears. We are family here at Buckeye Local. Even eliminating one position is heartbreaking for everyone.”

Many concerned residents and parents attended Monday’s meeting of the Buckeye Local Board of Education meeting, during which Leonard again explained the process to gathered residents.

Several students from the district also attended the meeting, expressing their displeasure with the positions being cut. They also had the chance to talk to Leonard and other officials and have their questions on the issue answered.

“They’ve (the teachers) been nothing but amazing. They’re there for us,” said Allison Clifford, a seventh-grader at Buckeye Local Jr. High School. “They really care about the student body, not just the money.”

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