School spending is the real problem

Neither a 70 cent levy nor a 75 cent levy is a sensible or sensitive local part-one “replacement” levy rate for the Oak Harbor School District to ask. Requesting a huge increase to either 70 or 75 cents up from 51 cents indicates the district has a serious spending problem, not a revenue problem.

Regarding part-two of the proposed levy: Having to double the current levy rate in order to obtain adequate math and science instruction strongly suggests the district’s educational priorities are severely skewed.

A true four-year replacement levy, at 51 cents per thousand dollars property assessment, would provide the district 4 percent more local levy dollars in its first year, and an additional 4 percent more local levy dollars each year thereafter. So, a 51 cent four-year replacement levy would provide a sensible and sensitive baseline plus about 17 percent additional local levy dollars over a four-year period. Asking instead immediately for between 37 percent and 47 percent more money overnight is neither warranted nor reasonable, for any taxing district.

These higher proposed levy rates would line teachers’ pockets with additional local TRI day dollars. Those additional TRI days would be paid in addition to COLA state pay raises and the 15 or so TRI days already being paid into teachers’ salaries from local discretionary funding (i.e. Federal Impact Aid). With teachers’ average salaries now at around $54,000 for 182 contracted 7.5 hour work days (about $40 per hour), teachers are already among the best-paid college-educated workers around.

Moreover, a second levy for an additional 25 to 30 cents for math and science instruction was labeled as being a totally unacceptable idea not only by the teachers’ union but also by many community members when proposed two years ago during a local school board campaign. Asking for a second levy to teach math and science says to the community: “For $47 million we’ll open the school doors, but if you want actual, adequate teaching to occur in math and science, we’ll need at least another million dollars a year from local property owners.” If improved math and science instruction is truly the highest priority of the local community, and using teaching specialists is the best strategy, repurpose levy dollars from the true 51 cent replacement levy. Those levy dollars are now paying instead for art and PE specialists.

Besides, as school district enrollment increases over the next four years, so will both federal and state-level funding. Local property owners should not be unnecessarily additionally burdened to provide additional revenue beyond a 51 cent true replacement levy at this juncture.

William Burnett

Oak Harbor

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