<p>GROVE CITY, Ohio – That first Friday at Grove City High was so quiet. Any other school year, the school’s nationally acclaimed band would have ended the day by marching through the halls blasting the fight song. Any other school year, more than 11,000 would have gathered later that evening at the stadium behind the school to watch the Greyhounds – better known as the Dawgs – open their season. Any other school year, Friday would have meant something.</p>
<p>On Aug. 28, football players didn’t come to school in their jerseys. Cheerleaders didn’t wear their uniforms. The band didn’t march, and the team didn’t play. Exactly one hour after the final bell rang, the doors were locked. “Every day feels like a Tuesday,” said Mike Mayers, the senior who thought he would start at quarterback this season. “Fridays are the days that everybody realizes things aren’t the same.”</p>
<p>Mayers no longer has a team because the South-Western City School Board (the district includes four high schools: Central Crossing, Grove City, Franklin Heights and Westland) took the unprecedented step of canceling all extra-curricular activities after voters failed to pass an operating levy Aug. 4. Now, the four high schools in Ohio’s sixth-largest school district have no sports, no bands, no drama productions and no student council.</p>
<p>It’s always a tough dilemma: the belief of how much is a school system wasting,(let’s face it NOBODY wastes zero) compared to how much do they need, and then that number influenced by what is the community willing and able to give.</p>
<p>Many hate to see cuts in student activities without first seeing real, documented cuts by the school system in budgets, administration, and others. Similarly, many hate to vote for higher taxes without having seen those same system-wide cuts first. How many execs in a school system have announced a voluntary pay cut to help the system?</p>
<p>Many simply feel the burden on property owners is already great enough; that the system is unfair permitting those who are not property owners to get off too cheaply. The current system permits those who are not property owners to vote on an additional tax that affects property owners. Some think that unfair. The idea that I can vote on a tax that you must pay, but I don’t have to pay it.
Theoretically a property owner raises rent on a tenant to recoup additional property taxes; but in real life- today- they can’t, especially not right now when paying tenants are hard to find as it is without raising rents.</p>
<p>I certainly don’t know that particular system well enough to say how well/poorly the system managed its money. My comments are intended as expressing a broad concern.
The old sales pitch “It’s for the kids!” is really wearing thin on voters. It really often appears that “It’s for the administrators!” is the impression.</p>
<p>Until a school system can appear much more responsible, beginning at the top of the food chain, then unfortunately, those on the bottom(the students) have to pay the price.</p>
<p>Bureaucrats’ Rule #1: Preserve the bureaucracy.</p>
<p>We have the same issue in Connecticut. Whenever there’s a budget shortfall, shut down the programs that are most appealing to residents. I feel badly for kids who won’t have “next year.”</p>
<p>I noticed the article was all about sports- what about the other extracurriculars? The band can survive without playing after hours, but what about academic and other enrichment EC’s? I’m sure those cost a lot less than the sports programs. I wonder how many teachers were counting on the extra money they would have received from spending extra time with those? When 52% of the students qualify for financial aids it is tough to get money.</p>
<p>I guess I shouldn’t complain about the athletic activity fee we had to start paying for each of our three kids each season this year! $75 x 9 is not cheap, though.</p>
<p>I feel so sorry for all those kids, but for the band kids, I feel physically ill. The Grove City Marching Band was ranked #2 in the national championship this year (and, in my opinion, should have been #1) and they are superb. (check them out on youtube) What a crying shame.</p>
<p>Wis75, some schools bands are all extracurricular–I don’t know if Grove City is one of them, but you don’t get as good as they are in 5 hours a week of class time.</p>
<p>I’ve paid for my kids’ sports for 8 years now at a Public CA high school. Participation fees are nothing new in this area. Most of the time they are on the order of $100 plus then there are “opportunities” to contribute more (e.g. various fundraisers). The fees are set just high enough to create a scholarship fund for students who can’t afford to pay.</p>
<p>Chopping after school activities is just a lose lose deal.</p>
<p>I believe there is a growing feeling in my area, and I hope across the U.S., that our representatives aren’t representing us. IMO too many representatives, whether school board, House, Senate etc, get in office and vote what pleases them with no regard to those they represent.
I know some elected people feel they were voted into office based on their beliefs, and feel every vote of any issue should be determined by their personal beliefs. But I disagree. I feel they are there to represent us, and if a majority of their constituents feel one way about an issue then they have a duty to vote that way- even if they personally disagree with the majority. We don’t elect kings or Popes; we elect representatives as public servants. Our public servants are our public servants. </p>
<p>I urge all here to remind their representatives that they are our representatives. In this case, beginning with the local school board!</p>
<p>I think our school board got the message. In the earlly '00s, they were increasing the budget a lot every year. About five years ago, they asked for an 11% increase, and the taxpayers revolted. We voted the budget down, and they had to redo the whole thing. I couldn’t believe that teachers were telling kids field trips would be eliminated because of the budget “cut,” even though the budget eventually went up 5%. Since then, the increases have been very modest or even zero.</p>
<p>I was wondering what schools will cut considering substantial decreases in Real Estate Market values and Real Estate taxes (we were very pleased to get value of our house down to what we wanted). There are club sports that kids can participate and parents pay for if they choose to do so. D was in one and it was more rigorous and require more commitment than HS sport. While her private HS happened not to have a team in her sport, she still was able to register a team and represented her HS as on person team, although she could not participate in all events, since relay reguired at least 4 people. Sports are not the reason for Public Schools, education is, sport is optional and very much available in other settings.</p>
<p>I’m fairly familiar with the school system in question as I’ve just moved from central Ohio. Part of the problem with Ohio school funding is that when property values change, taxes don’t. As it was explained to me, if a house is worth $200,000 and taxes on that house are $2000/year, at the beginning of the cycle, that’s fine. But five or six years later, while all the costs in the district have increased due to inflation or what have you, and while the value of the house may have increased to $240,000, the taxes on that house are still $2000 unless and until the district passes a new levy. So the amount of $$$ coming in to the district is stagnant unless the voters approve a new tax amount, even though costs have increased. Some districts try to project increased costs in to the budget so there is a small surplus the first few years of a levy cycle which is then spent down in the latter years of a levy cycle but in some districts the voters won’t go for that and the budget is in “today dollars” only. Later in the cycle in this kind of district, there aren’t dollars for a lot of things. Voters turn down special levies,etc. and things can turn vicious quickly…one persons essentials are another’s luxury items.</p>
<p>The way the taxing works, the voters in the Southwest district want to keep taxes at the same $$amount as in the last levy cycle and are turning down the requested increase. Because it is a relatively non-affluent district there was a judgment made not to have participation fees because many would not be able to afford them and they did not want to have a situation with “haves” and “have-nots” having differing opportunities. </p>
<p>Over the past years a lot of cuts were made in these districts…busing was limited,class sizes increased, etc. I think in the same spirit the board did not want to pick and choose among extracurriculars…theater vs. marching band vs. basketball vs. school paper etc.</p>
<p>It’s very, very sad. Grove City until recently was a community on the rise. The school was known for the crazy fans for all the sports,plays, etc…huge crowds. One of my friends (a central ohio teacher in a nearby district) said that a lot of Grove City taxpayers would have voted for a levy that supported the sports but cut academics! (definetely hypebole,folks!)</p>
<p>Just got our house value lowered significantly - by 20% with very significant tax decrease (in OH). Yes, finally!! So, I have no idea what are you talking about.</p>
<p>We’ve paid activity fees (for ECs) and sports activity fees every season. It feels a little strange - kids have to try out for the sports/drama etc - the tryouts are pretty intense and incredibly stressful - then you have the ‘honor’ of representing your school and you have to cough up pretty big bucks!! For us, the first sports season of the year is 300$. There used to be a family cap - but they eliminated that last year. A friend who has 3 kids in the high school - incredibly athletic kids - didn’t let the kids participate in more than 2 sport seasons each due to the cost.</p>
<p>Basically, if a house gets formally re-appraised the tax bill gets changed…but for a house that does not turn over the tax amount basically stays the same (for schools, not necessarily cities, etc.) . Basically from what was explained to me, the dollar amount of the levy is set and then is is divvied up to individual properties and there it stays until the next levy…once the bill is divvied up into x mils/X$, there it sits unless things are formally revalued, or the tax rate is changed with a new levy. This is why while some tax burdens go up along with inflation, the school burden doesn’t–school tax is not treated the same way as general property taxes. So if property values go way up or way down within a school district, but someone just stays in their house and it is not formally reappraised by the assessor , the school tax burden stays the same although the general tax amount may change. Very weird.</p>
<p>If the community wants to have sports, and marching band, and drama, they can have it. They will find a way to do these things if they want them. Perhaps by agreeing to the next tax bond issue, perhaps by clubbing together in other ways to scare up the money.</p>
<p>Back in the '70s our school district was overcrowded, and the voters turned down multiple bond issues. Finally, the 3 year HS went to 4 years, but on split shifts (11th and 12th grade from 7 to 12 and 9th and 10th grade from 12:30 to 5:30). Half of the 6th graders were bused to the old Jr. High which became a quasi-middle school. Half of the kindergartners were farmed out to rooms rented from various churches. Marching band practiced from 12 to 12:30 in the hot hot August and September sun. Varsity football practiced from about 1 to 2. JV sports practiced at 5:30 when school got out. As you can well imagine, our parents were driven nearly out of their minds juggling our schedules. The next bond issue passed.</p>
<p>Our kids go to private school and we have always had to pay $250-350 for each sport they play in. It stinks, but without any state funding that is just the way it is.</p>
<p>There was a school in our state that decided to drop the hockey program. The HS hockey parents got together and decided to keep the program, but charge the kids to play. Everyone was thrilled until the school board stepped in and said they could not do this because it was unfair to those who could not pay. </p>
<p>Maybe the parents get together and develop some “club” teams.</p>
<p>I hope the OP’s school can find a way to keep the school spirit. I think this is so very important to the kids social development and sense of belonging.</p>
<p>Kajon, OP here. I’m sorry; I should have made it clear that this is not my school district, nor even my state. A link to the article was posted on another forum I frequent (a music forum), and I thought the article a good one for CC parents. </p>
<p>That isn’t to say that my district doesn’t have financial issues; it does! Hoo boy, does it ever! But nothing so drastic as what is happening in the district the article is abou.t</p>