Myth Busters

Question: I heard that the school borrowed money from the NSA to cover this year and next year.

Answer: Midview Schools have not borrowed any money to pay for current expenses at this time. Due to the cycle of how the district receives its money (also known as “cash flow”), the need may arise to borrow in the future. Who and where those funds are secured have not been determined.

Question:Why haven't the old school properties been auctioned off?

Answer: Currently, Midview only owns one of those buildings. The Belden, Carlisle, Eaton, and Grafton properties were all sold.  Brush is being leased to Positive Education Program.

Question: Why does the admin lease or whatever case is space on Vivian drive when they could easily utilize space at one of the current buildings in the district such as brush bldg?

Answer: The district does plan to move the administrative office on to campus although space is extremely limited. In addition to space concerns, the Board office will need to be handicap and public accessible. The Brush building is currently being leased to Positive Education Program.

Question: According to the ODE your revenue per pupil for 2011 was $8,019 and your expenditure per pupil was $7,890. So with revenue higher then expenditure how can the district be in trouble?

Answer: Expenditures have exceeded revenue in both fiscal years 2011 and 2012. This trend is expected to continue for fiscal years 2013 without new additional revenue. In FY2011, the district received $26,965,418 for general operations and spent $27,110,885. This resulted in deficit spending of -$145,467 even with $1.2 million dollars in one time stimulus money. In FY2012, total operating revenue was $26,815,419 (including one-time Education Jobs grant of over $600,000) and expenses were $27,938,749 for a deficit of -$1,123,330.

Question: How is it Avon can have a strong system on a lower expenditure?

Answer: With our current funding system in Ohio, Midview, Avon, and other school districts have learned to be frugal with their revenue. Avon is unique due to their overwhelming growth in enrollment. Since 2006, their enrollment has grown by over 1000 students (500 arriving since 2009).  

Question:  Within Lorain County and surrounding counties, where does Midview rank in relation to property taxes? (Rumor: LOWEST TAXES in the area BY FAR).

Answer :This information is available on the Lorain County Auditor’s website (click here for link): 

Question  Our local tax dollars are helping to educate students from outlying communities through open enrollment something you don't see in some of the stronger suburban districts. What percent of Midview students are a result of open enrollment?

Answer :346 out of 3,204 are open enrolled to Midview. That means about 90% of the students served in Midview are residents.  

Question  What is the cost to educate those students and how much money does the district receive from their parent's taxes?

Answer : Midview does not add services for open enrollment. Students are admitted when seats are available and no additional services need to be added to serve them. Midview does receives more than $5,700 per student who open enrollment. Midview students benefit from this revenue. This figure includes both state and local money (taxes) for the student’s home district. The percentage of local money varies by the student’s home school district 

Question: Are those students bussed?

Answer: Some students ride a bus, but are required to find transportation to a Midview bus stop.

Question:  Why should we continue to extend open enrollment and has that been considered as a cut?

Answer: This year, open enrollment is projected to bring in an additional $1,276,050 or 2.9 mills of revenue. Cutting open enrollment would result in a substantial loss ($1.2 million dollars) in revenue without creating opportunities for reducing services.

Q: Hey, Tim: My son's school is considering doing away with all sports due to levy failures and lack of funding. If they cancel all sports, can he still attend his school for scholastics, but compete on the sports teams of a different school? Thank you. -- Steve Kozel, Elyria

A: Hey, Steve: He cannot.

Even if a school cancels all sports, state rules prohibit students from attending one school while competing for another. Students who transfer to another school in that situation will be eligible immediately at their new school. That applies only if the school cancels all sports for a season. Should someone step up to fund, for example, the football team, then soccer players who transfer out would not be eligible at their new school.

In addition, if their original school resumes sports, students can transfer back home and also be eligible.

It hasn't happened often in Ohio. The largest school district to cancel sports for a season was South-Western Schools in suburban Columbus in 2009. The district that includes Grove City and Central Crossing high schools resumed sports later that school year.

Locally, Midview administrators have said if a 9.75-mill levy does not pass Feb. 5, sports will be canceled in 2013-14. Elyria officials have discussed eliminating sports, but have not announced a decision.

Question: Why did you not put in Geo-thermal heating and cooling?  From my personal experience it is almost maintenance free.  I put it in my own home to replace an oil furnace and it will pay for itself in 8 years at the current rate. All I do is change filter once a year.  Several other school systems have either put it in new or replaced their older systems with Geo-thermal.

Answer: Geothermal was investigated at the time of construction. The initial cost of geothermal was $485,000 more expensive and would take 15 to 20 years to pay back the district. This does not include replacing the compressors required to run geothermal which have a shorter life span or the extra training and certification for staff to maintain the system. Another factor was noise. Typically compressors are inside the building space, generally located in the ceiling. When an overall comparison of products was completed, the current system was selected. 

Question: JROTC does not cost the district any funds, so why cut it? 

Answer: The Midview Schools contibute over 60% of the cost of salaries for JROTC.

Question: I have heard that only about 30% of Midview families are actually registered voters and that’s one of the contributing factors in the levy not being able to be passed. Is that a true statement and if so how can we reach those families that are not registered and get them registered?

Answer: There are still some unregistered voters in the district. The number has been estimated at ⅓, but there is some room for error. Our Compass Committee has worked hard to register people and have registered over 40 voters. While it may not seem like a lot, this is the most significant registration campaign yet.

Question: The community was told that the district would go to a brown bag lunch once they go to a State minimum day?

Answer: Midview, from the district level, has not communicated that we would move to a brown bag lunch. Other districts have discussed implementing this, but we will not be going this direction. Students will receive the same lunch they have been receiving all year. The only difference would likely be a reduced amount of time in the cafeteria.

Question: The Board of Education has said that they will move Administration Offices as a cost savings measure. Is it true that they still have 2 years left on their lease?