By http://www.middletownjournal.com/staff/hannah-poturalski/" rel="nofollow - Hannah Poturalski

Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN —

Not trying to step on toes, but Wildwood and several other of the buildings are pretty tight on space already.  I discovered this while doing contract work for the school district. 

Have ya noticed the total silence from City Hall about the Section 8 Vouchers.
Next Section 8 meeting will be in June so maybe Mr. Adkins will give us an update then

Do you know what the 3.9mils will cost the the average property owners?

 

The exact amount of the bond levy to be put on the ballot for vote has not yet been determined.

 

Marcia Andrew

So, give or take, 10-15 bucks a month on average.  All in all, that is not terrible.  If one wanted to support the schools they could give up a meal out or something similar per month, yadda, yadda. 

My main questions is, what are the needs of the school district going forward? Will there be another levy coming up anytime soon? As a newer home owner here (been here for just a couple years) I already think my property taxes are a tad on the high side, but it is what it is.  I just want to know if there is going to be an additional operating levy anytime in the near future.  If so, could this be combined with the bond levy?  Kind of get it all out of the way at once?  

Please don't take this as a snarky response or anything, I truly want to know.

Thanks, 

-itsamee

I would be suprised if the school board put two levy's on the same ballot.  By law it would have to be two issues since the money cannot be comingled.  The last I heard the board wanted to put the bond issue on the ballet soon so that the district would have the funds in place once their number was called by the state.  However, this was put on hold until the state resolves how much their contribution will be.  Since Middletown started in the program the tax base has dropped so much that Middletown now qualifies for more state funds.  However, current law requires that Middletown stay at the 26%.  If our state representative has success in changing the law the bond levy may be for very little money.

 

I would  be suprised if the board would be pursuing additional operating money for at least a few years.  However, a lot will depend on the outcome of the state budget.  Kasich had proposed additional money for districts such as Middletown but the legislature appears to be reducing the amount.  The more the district can get from the state, the longer they will be able to hold out and not ask for addtional operating money.  They have done a great job reducing their budget, my recollection is over $6 million per year reduction, but at some point they will need additional money since their costs will increase but their revenue won't.

 

As far as reaching those indicators, what makes you think the grades are going to go up when the city is attracting nothing but people looking for a free hand out such as section 8. In order to raise test scores you actually have to have a clientele that actually gives a dang about education.

Ms. Andrew 

The forty-five acres at the high school is this the property that Manchester Tech currently sits on or is this where the baseball fields are located just looking for some clarification?

 

Enough is enough, I believe the 45 acres refers to the size of the entire high school site.  There are several ways to fit in a new middle school, but the layout that was shown to us that appears to make the most sense was to put a middle school (with a middle school practice football field) where the baseball and softball fields currently are, and then move those ball fields over to the corner where the Manchester building and its parking spaces are right now. That would group most of the athletic areas together in a park-like setting. The Manchester building would come down. An addition would be built on to the front of the high school for the classroom space that is currently used by high school students at Manchester, resulting in a much better security situation. A new competition gym for basketball would be built next to the existing high school gym (the state standards allow for two high school gyms for a student body the size of Middletown).

Thanks for the clarification.

Enough is enough, 

I agree with your comments on Vail.  That building is well beyond usefulness. It is a beautiful classic building, but it cannot come close to dealing with today's codes.  

Vet,  

I understand what you are saying as well. It is hard to look at the "climate" and think, "lets pour more money into the system!"  I really wish there was a better way to fund schools. The current setup seems ridiculous. As a property tax payer, it is unfair to us to foot pretty much the entire bill. That being said, I try and look beyond what is fed to us from the paper and even the state. The "report cards" etc that come out are kind dumb.  They basically assure a district teaches to the test and then punishes the district and its students for failing to meet certain criteria beyond its control.  For example, why do we punish the student with the 4.0 gpa because another student has chosen to drop out or fails the test because they dont care? 

Its a paradox and one has to vote based on their own opinions. 

Why do you think that the new middle school would be built where the ball fields are?  Have you seen the plans?  I always assumed that the middle school would be built where the current Manchester is but I haven't seen the plans.

 

Regarding the athletic facility I thought that the plan was to, through private funds, re-hab Barnitz Field and move a lot of it there.

 

Seems kind of silly to me to move perfectly good ball fields and pay to rebuild them when they could stay where they are.  The middle school could have two "fronts".  One facing Manchester, or Breiel, and the other facing the "open concept" ball fields, etc.