Anthony Wayne Local Schools To Rescind November Emergency Operating Levy Request

Last year at this time the school district was projected to have a 1.2 million dollar deficit for June 2007 and a 4.5 million dollar deficit for June 2008. At that time the district began a 360-degree fiscal examination of its expenditures. Every aspect of the school district was examined carefully; from re-routing busses, changing the start/end times of the main campus, staffing, textbook adoptions, activities, budgets and more. Through eliminating the spending pattern, by early May, the district was able to offset the projected deficit for June of 2007 and reduce the anticipated deficit for June 2008.

Since that time several more Anthony Wayne employees have selected to separate from the school district through retirements or other resignations. These unanticipated departures added to the cost reduction for the school district. The current school board cost of separating employees now totals over 2.3 million dollars. The school district did not replace all of the employees that separated from the district, and those that were replaced were at a lower cost to the school district. Dr. Granger explained, “Many of those retirements and resignations were accepted after the board of education had passed a resolution to proceed with an emergency operating levy in November. The resolution to proceed specifically stated that the tax request was an emergency levy to avoid an operating deficit".

Through efficient management practices Anthony Wayne Schools are now predicting a marginal operating balance for June 2008. Dr. Granger said, “Since we are anticipating a carryover balance at the end of the fiscal year, and not an operating deficit, the November ballot language is incorrect. For this reason, I believe it would be wrong to allow the levy to be presented to the voters in our school district.”.

Dr. Granger explained that Anthony Wayne Schools will need additional revenue in the near future to adequately meet the needs of the students, but for the short-term the district managed itself through this financial crisis. He also stated it would be his recommendation to the school board to wait until January 2008 and then decide how to proceed with seeking new revenue to move the school district forward.