Genoa schools: Levy forum set for April 20

By: 
Larry Limpf

A public forum is scheduled for April 20 for residents of the Genoa Local School District to discuss a 5.9-mill, 5-year property tax levy on the May 4 ballot.
The forum will start at 7 p.m. and be held in the high school auditorium. It can also be viewed on the district’s YouTube channel.
Melissa Edens, who chairs the levy committee, said members of the school board, administration and committee will be on hand to field questions from the public about the district’s finances and other education issues
If passed, the levy will generate about $1.1 million annually.
Attempting to pass a levy during the pandemic has some residents scratching their heads and asking why now, Edens said, but the committee is hoping to use the forum to shed some light on reductions in state funding for education and the impact on the district.
During the past two fiscal years, the district has realized a net loss of about $350,000 in state funding, Bill Nye, district treasurer, estimates.
He is projecting the district will begin deficit spending this current fiscal year.
“Our overall balance is good but we will be eating into it pretty significantly going forward,” Nye said.
Last year, the school board approved a reduction of about $135,000 in spending through staff cuts and paring the pre-school program when the state reduced education funding to balance its budget.
If the levy passes, the board will also use levy revenues to eliminate student fees and pay-to-participate fees for the five years the levy is in effect. Student parking fees, insurance costs for students using district Chromebooks and pre-school tuition will remain in effect.
It’s been six years since the district last passed an additional operating levy, Nye said.
“In those six years, the revenues stayed stagnant and the expenditures increased,” he said. “We’re trying to keep from cutting positions. We want to continue with what we have. We’ve added a career readiness program and a technology integration specialist but we don’t have an overabundance of staff.”
Many staff members wear multiple hats and the district contracts with other school systems to share services to contain costs, Edens said. For example, the middle school principal is also the transportation director. The treasurer’s assistant also oversees food service and the special education director also helps oversee the district’s pre-school program.
Edens said teachers and staff have worked through the logistical challenges posed by the pandemic and transitioned though virtual classrooms to the hybrid model and back to the in-person format with social distancing and other restrictions.
“It’s been very impressive to see how hard people have been working,” she said. “We’ve petitioned our state reps for equitable funding, but until funding is fixed by the state, this levy is necessary to set our kids up for success.”
More information about the levy, including a calculator to determine the cost for individual property owners, is available on the district website.
The levy committee website address is https://sites.google.com/genoaschools.com/levy.

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