Who Will Pay for All-day K?

1. Who Will Pay for All-day K? A discussion hosted by forbedre

2. What is forbedre?

3. (for better) literally means “to improve”.It is an organization made for the sole purpose of making things better. Not perfect. Just better.

4. How do we achieve better?

5. forbedre provides a platform for… Education Civil Discussion

6. With that in mind…

7. Things to do today in the discussion: Identify the actual problem Propose solutions Discuss pros/cons Choose “better” Act

8. But first, what do we actually know?

9. 127th General Assembly • Passed bill in 2009 making full-day kindergarten mandatory • State would give WCS 1.5 million dollars per year to put towards program • State would eventually fund kindergarten 100% in the next 10 years

10. House Bill 30 • February 17, the 129th General Assembly of Ohio passed a bill repealing one made in 2009 that made full-day kindergarten mandatory • 1.5 million dollars cut • Allowed schools to charge tuition as an option to fund full-day programs

11. In response to HB-30, Wooster City Schools announced that they would offer full-day kindergarten but would charge tuition based on a sliding scale of income.

12. Half day kindergarten would be free but would only be offered at 2 of the 6 elementary schools.

13. Out of Time • The Wooster City School Board had 21 days to devise a plan once House Bill 30 passed. • Superintendent Tefs has since acknowledged that a better solution may exist and the budget for 2012 is open for discussion.

14. Where’d all the money go?

15. Tangible Personal Property Tangible personal property is everything other than real estate that has value in and of itself. This ad valorem tax is levied against the equipment of a business, or the attachments to a mobile home that is on rental property. Ad valorem taxes on tangible personal property are collected on an annual basis. Collection of the tangible personal property taxes begins November 1st for the tax year January through December. The office of the Property Appraiser establishes the value of the property and the Board of County Commissioners and other taxing authorities set the respective millage rates.

16. In plain English…Wooster’s businesses are taxed a substantial amount on commercial inventory, a lot of which was from places like Rubbermaid.

17. Wooster City Schools acquires about 7 million dollars a year from this tax

18. T.P.P. in our area*Note that Wooster’s is more…a lot more than other schools in the area.

19. Recently, T.P.P. was determined to be an unfair form of taxation and will be phased out over the next 7 years.

20. It’s being replaced by the Commercial Activity Tax which is good news for businesses, bad news for the school budget.

21. Ouch… WCS will lose 7 million dollars (1 million per year) by 2017

22. Other factors to consider…

23. The Economic Rift in Wooster* WCS student demographics for 2011

24. Lower Enrollment = Less Money

25. “Pay Now or Pay Much More Later” A recent study predicts that Ohio currently spends $1.72 billion a year on corrections and could save $2.5 million per child by investing more in early education.

26. In 2009, 8,000 Ohio students in grades 1-3 had to repeat their grade. This cost the state 43 million dollars. According to a compilation of studies, children who attend full-day kindergarten are less-likely to repeat grades 1-3.

27. Bottom line: State funding cuts of 1.5 mil. Loss of tax revenue of 1 mil. for 7 years Operating budget 42 mil. to 35 mil.

28. Full-day kindergarten could be first in a line of many cuts that will be necessary over the next 7 years in Wooster.The question we MUST answer is…

29. What are we willing to give up?