09/27/2004 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Regular Council Minutes 9-27-04 Page 2 Mayor Rinker said it is always nice to have Dr. Price here and recognize some of our local dignitaries in our institutions. A couple of things tonight involving our school district, first of all at long last we are able to present to the school our portion of the proceeds from the Adelphia contract which by agreement with the school and others we are turning over to the school and putting it to your good hands, Mr. Cikach, to put this for good use for IT-technology uses. This is about 6 years in the making. Mayor Rinker presented Dr. Price the check from Mayfield Village for the school's portion of the Adelphia. Mayor Rinker said I have asked Dr. Price to speak to us regarding the upcoming school levy. Dr. Price said I want to share with Council first of all our thanks for your support and continued support. The relationship between Mayfield Village and Mayfield Schools is really a special one and in many ways unique. Each time things come together it is better for citizens and for the schools. Tonight I approach you on the matter of we have a 5.5 mill operating levy on the ballot. Normally when we do our 5-year projections and when we had our levy on in 2002, we always plan to go at least 3 years and hopefully 4. We try to stretch those out but because of the changes especially that the State legislature has caused with personal property tax, ourselves and other districts like us-Solon is a perfect example, are losing significant money. Over a 12- monthperiod Mayfield Schools will lose 20.2 million dollars. When we passed the levy in 2002, no one knew this was going to come about. It came about in 2003--is when the legislature-and we understand why they did it, it was to bring business or more------like Pennsylvania, the whole voice was that they would do over about a 20-year period so we could gradually absorb that loss. We will lose about 20.2 million; Solon (which is about our size) will lose almost double that. All you have to do is think of that Stouffer's plant and all those little frozen foods. That is all inventory and all that tax flow will really be lost. Because of that we are back on the ballot. This is a critical time for us. We already made 3 million dollars in curtailments this past year. We tried to stay away from the students as much as possible. If this would fail, in 2005 we would have to, in my mind, begin dismantling the system. We would have to make about 5 million in cuts, significant numbers of staff would have to be let go, at the High School many electives and honors programs would go; it would change the complexion of the school district. We really appreciate your support. We will be getting our story out to the public. This is, in my mind and in the State of Ohio's mind, a premier school district. We are 18 out of 18 on the proficiency test. There are only 73 districts out of 604 that are at that perfect score. I think what really says it all about schools is this is the first year of the Ohio Graduation Test. First time they took it, our sophomores passed the reading test. Ninety-six percent of our kids passed the test the first time; 94% of the kids passed the math section the first time they ever took it. There are only maybe 10 districts in the State of Ohio out of 604 that achieved at that level. You can't cram your sophomore year and get that done. It takes excellent education all the way through. It is a testament not only to staff but to this community and these communities because these are really supportive parents here and supporting communities as exhibited by Mayfield Village and it is a pleasure to work in this kind of environment so thank you for all your support. Mayor Rinker said thank you Dr. Price. Prior to the meeting I asked Council President Buckholtz to ask the Council to amend the agenda to allow consideration of Resolution 2004-26