“The big picture is that Mansfield is a major employer and there will be a ripple effect if this levy does not pass,” said Mansfield City Schools Board of Education President, Chris Elswick.
Mansfield City Schools will be on the ballot in November for a replacement levy. “This is an important levy because this levy replaces the money that was voted against in 2012. The levy in 2012 was a renewal and it lost by a narrow margin which was worth $4 million,” said Superintendant of Mansfield City Schools Brian Garverick.
“Had the levy passed last November, we were on track to be out of fiscal watch,” said Public Relations Consultant Larry Gibbs.
“We are putting it back on in November to try and replace that money. We are still going to have to make cuts. Additionally, this money is not being used for permanent improvement money. The money is going towards the general fund,” said Garverick.
Elswick said the cuts that would be made to Mansfield City Schools if the levy failed. “Every program would be on the table to cut if this levy doesn’t pass and that would include sports, too,” said Elswick. “We may lose local control and cuts would have to take place,” said Garverick.
Although the levy in November 2012 failed, a levy passed in the spring that provided $3.9 million. Both levies are required in order to meet the funding needs.
“We were shocked the levy didn’t pass last November. We are not sure why it failed because we are making progress both academically and financially. So, it did come as a huge shock,” said Elswick.
Garverick shared how this levy would affect those who live in Mansfield. “For an $80,000 home in Mansfield it will cost about $23.57 and this will replace the money that we lost that people were already paying. It’s important to keep in mind that this is where our schools are funded, through property tax and state allocation. I understand that employment is tough in Richland County, but now is the time to invest in our community and this is one way to continue to do that until the economy turns around,” said Garverick.
“We want our children to have a quality education and the children are our future,” said Garverick. When the levy was defeated in November 2012, reductions in taxes were made because the renewal did not pass. “It is tough to vote that cost back in sometimes, but we need to continue our services and programs for our students in Mansfield City Schools. We are continually audited by the state of Ohio and according to them we are spending our money correctly. They have made recommendations for reductions and we are going to do make those reductions,” he added.
Garverick noted that he has made numerous speaking engagements and the response with the levy has been positive. “They all get it and they understand that we need to continue our programs that we have in place for our children. We have a pre-engineering program through Project Lead the Way (PLTW) and it is now one of the premier engines for engineering careers. It’s for STEM education which includes science, technology, engineering, and math,” said Garverick.
PLTW is a program that is instilled in Mansfield City Schools. It is nationally recognized as one of four high quality STEM programs that are scalable on the national level. PLTW is the only STEM curricular program that is available to elementary, middle, and high school students and PLTW is the only program that offers comprehensive professional development models for teachers.
“We started pre-engineering for our eighth graders last year and every eighth grader took the course. We grew that into the freshman year and we have 49 students taking it, along with eighth graders. To answer the concern in our industrial community for qualified workers that we don’t have enough workers that are capable of the skilled work, this is an answer to that. Our pre-engineering program does have an advisory board that includes executives from business and industry in our community. They are so interested in this. PLTW is the engine that is driving this and the curriculum,” said Garverick.
Students within Mansfield City Schools have made progress in academic achievements.
“Through our literacy collaborative for teacher training with Ashland University and the literacy collaborative addresses at risk students in reading. That has been going on for several years and as a result of putting those research based practices in place, we have met and exceeded the state standard in third grade reading and math,” said Garverick. “We passed fourth grade reading, too. That’s the first time that this district has passed all three since the new standard went into effect in 2003. The state standard in all three is that it is expected that 75 percent of students must be proficient and we topped 75 percent in all three,” said Gibbs.
The Algebra Project is another program that is implemented in Mansfield City Schools that has resulted in development and growth within the students. “We have performing arts, band, orchestra, advance placement classes, and sports. We had the smallest graduating class from Mansfield in 2013 with 179 students and we had the largest amount of scholarships awarded in history,” said Garverick. “Their post secondary scholarship in the 2013 class was about $2.1 million,” said Gibbs.
“We are 7-0 in football and we have a tremendous group of talented athletes here in Mansfield,” said Garverick.
Arlin Field has brought in revenue for Mansfield. “Since we received the turf field in 2011 we have had six state playoff games. The first year we had four playoff games and the Mansfield/Richland County Convention and Visitors Bureau estimated that more than $400,000 was brought to the local economy,” said Gibbs.
“It’s important to keep in mind that this is where our schools are funded, through property tax and state allocation. I understand that employment is tough in Richland County, but now is the time to invest in our community and this is one way to continue to do that until the economy turns around,” said Superintendent Brian Garverick.
