Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Dear friends and neighbors:

With everything else that is going on, this may seem almost a distraction.

However, in the next few weeks the school board will be deciding what actions need to be taken to deal with our impending deficit.

There are those who will want to go back on the ballot in February, and those who will want to choose budget cuts designed to scare the voters to vote yes. I need your advice on what I should do to keep that from happening.

The good news is that there is some relief on the revenue side. Because our enrollment increase this year exceeded our estimate by almost 140, we stand to get approximately $400,000 more state funding this year, and again next year, than we had projected. If, as seems likely, our enrollment also increases by more than 300 next year, there will be a further increase in state funding.

Also, as some of you know, the school district has approximately $3 million in accumulated interest earnings from recent construction projects that could be used to cover operating expenses. This would be a one-time infusion, but it would help buy the PLSD an additional year before going back to the voters for an operating levy, which is my goal.

By restructuring our grade configuration, and making fuller use of our existing classroom space, there should be enough room next year for all of our students, without the use of any modular classrooms (except for administrative offices). I suggest moving grade 6 into the junior high school, moving kindergarten to PHS Central, and converting our existing elementary/middle schools to 1-5 schools. We also will need to use all the classroom space in Heritage for classrooms (over the objections of Gail and I, the PLSD now uses up to ten classrooms in Heritage for administrative offices).

This would have the added benefit of eliminating an entire set of bus routes. That is where I would cut expenses first. We need to trim at least $500,000 off our transportation budget.

We also need to plan bus routes more carefully. We cannot afford bus routes that do not fill the buses. Nor can we afford bus stops that are less than a quarter mile apart. We need to speed up our buses by cutting such stops, so that we can get more use out of the buses.


Itwas a mistake to outsource busing to begin with, and a further mistake to renew Laidlaw's contract. As you know, I opposed the renewal vigorously. We now need to tell


By Bruce Rigelman

Bruce Rigelman

It was a mistake to outsource busing to begin with, and a further mistake to renew Laidlaw's contract. As you know, I vigorously opposed that renewal. By my calculations, we could have saved at least $800,000 per year by bringing busing back in-house, even figuring in the cost of lease-purchasing Laidlaw's buses.

That, however, is water under the bridge. At this point, we need to lean hard on Laidlaw to eliminate bus routes, do a better job of planning existing routes, and to do whatever it takes to cut at least $500,000 from their fee for next year.

We need to continue through next year this year's cuts in the principals' budgets. We need to defer capital expenditures and non-essential maintenance and repairs. We need to cut at least $300,000 from next year's budget for new faculty and staff. And we probably need to consider eliminating some existing administrative and staff positions. The positions of business manager, dean of students and curriculum coordinator top my lost.

Although I have not yet run the numbers, I believe that by using the $3 million of interest earnings and taking the measures that I have outlined above, we should be able to get through next year without cutting anything else, and without delaying the opening of our new schools.

Having taken these measures (many of which should be taken in any case), we can then go back to the voters next November, hopefully with a smaller operating levy request. I suggest that the PLSD shelve, for the time being, the idea of building more schools.

What do you think? I need your ideas and suggestions. Also, to get through this crisis without cuts being made that are designed to punish the voters, I need your support. Let's put our heads together and try to get through this one without anyone doing anything that is punitive or self-destructive.

By What about the schools? II

Response to Bruce

I like all of your cost-savings ideas and think that this is an excellent opportunity for the school board, the administration, the teachers, and the PTOs to be creative and to think ''out of the box''. What do other school districts do that is working? I sense a certain ''this is the way we have always done it'' mentality in the way our schools are run.

I would be much more likely to support a levy if I believed that there was financial accountability in the school district and that everyone involved was on board to save money. Just the amount of paper that is sent home with my student each day is overwhelming to me -- lots of resources being wasted in the paper/copying area, in my opinion.

Would all day kindergarten be an option if K were moved to the high school? That would eliminate the mid-day bus runs.

Creative & Innovative !!!

Thanks for the creative & innovative thoughts & leaving the scare tactics locked up where they belong.

The community needs to support Bruce & Gail at School Board Meetings, these are posted on the website in the Calendar section. And I will be the first to admit I haven't been to a meeting for a couple of years. Like David, these guys need support so these ideas become more than just good ideas !!!