TPS pleads for more funding

If voters reject the Toledo Public Schools' tax proposal, $12.5 million will have to be cut from the district's $290 million budget, Superintendent John Foley says. Opponents of the tax say that TPS needs to change the way it spends money. If voters say no on Tuesday, areas targeted for cuts include: Enlarge

Toledo Public Schools levy issues are usually requests for property tax increases.

But this time, TPS is asking voters in the school district to approve a new tax on earned income to help close a projected budget deficit next fiscal year.

The 0.75 percent tax would be imposed on residents living inside the district and would exempt pension, Social Security, and unemployment benefits.

If it passes, someone making $50,000 a year would owe an additional $375.

The Toledo Board of Education says it needs the levy — Issue 3 on Tuesday's ballot — to help close a projected $30 million budget deficit and to prevent further program cuts. The levy would raise about $18.1 million annually.

The school board has approved cuts worth $17.5 million. But if the levy doesn't pass, an additional $12.5 million will have to be cut, Superintendent John Foley said. The district has about 26,000 students and a $290 million budget.

The levy has split some groups and leaders in the community.

One camp supports the levy because passing it would prevent deeper cuts and changes, including scaling back bus service, eliminating sports with low participation, and increasing the student-to-teacher ratio.

That group includes a pro-levy committee of parents and students, a group of ministers, and an organization of Toledo minority contractors, among others.

Another camp, which includes the Greater Toledo Urban League, says the levy should be defeated and that the school system needs to change the way it spends money.

The Urban League has suggested overhauling the district's long-range plan, cutting administration, and revising union contracts.

A divisive issue surrounding the levy has been the fate of Libbey High School on Western Avenue in South Toledo.

The school was on the cut list to save TPS about $1.3 million in expenses. But some students and alumni protested the closing, and it was removed from the list in a 3-2 school board vote.

School board members Jack Ford, Brenda Hill, and Larry Sykes voted to remove it from the cut list, and board President Bob Vasquez and vice president Lisa Sobecki voted against the motion.

Because the school's enrollment was declining, the school was removed several years ago by that school board from a reconstruction and renovation master plan that taps state dollars. Now, the school system doesn't have a long-term financial plan to keep it open.

Mr. Ford, who is the former mayor of Toledo, made the motion to keep Libbey open. He said it wasn't fair to about 600 students who would have to find their way to other high schools. He also said the low-income community needed the school as an uplifting focal point for residents and their children. He said the city needed to get involved to help develop that part of town.

The school board vote regarding Libbey also scuttled several union contract agreements that relied on the school system saving the $1.3 million from closing the school. Those negotiated union deals called for a 1 percent pay cut and increases to health care co-pays. The unions are back in negotiation with the administration.

School leaders say voters should approve the levy because it hasn't asked for any new local money since 2001.

TPS says it needs the extra help because students have been leaving in droves for charter schools and under a school voucher-style program.

For every student who leaves for a charter school or takes part in the voucher-style program, TPS loses $5,800 in state tax money. The school system says that has added up to $60 million a year since the programs were approved.

Contact Christopher D. Kirkpatrick at:ckirkpatrick@theblade.com or 419-724-6134.