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So, You Want More Money…Eh?
By Lafe Tolliver, Esq
Guest Column
I read the recent Toledo Blade article in which Romules
Durant, Ed.D, superintendent of the Toledo Public Schools,
was in full dress mode as to stating his case to the voters
to pass a new 5.8 mill tax levy for the public schools.
Of course, the usual and expected arguments were vocalized
as to the need for more money since the last school tax levy
was back in 2001.
However, contra to his valid points are two looming and
grimacing behemoths that were threatening to throttle his
arguments: (1) voters saying “been there…done that and no
appreciable results of school academic improvements” and (2)
tired homeowners paying more and more taxes while the
business community gets a reduced “free pass” as to their
school tax assessments.
As to point one, taxpayers are seemingly frazzled with
repeated campaigns and slogans to get them to shell out more
and more dough for a school system that seems chronically
incapable of ridding itself of the academic stain of the
labels of academic emergency or academic watch.
So, now after a multi-million dollar physical plant
improvement of many of the public schools that was supposed
to be the catalyst to make students and parents proud of
their schools and to engender winning school report cards,
there have been negligible improvements so far.
Toledo taxpayers were expecting that with so many millions
spent on physical plant improvements and technological
embellishments that we would have competent high school
graduates who could read and write at a high school level
and could attend a two-year or a four-year college without
the need for remedial coursework.
For me, as a lawyer who also engages in juvenile court work,
I still wince when I hear students from the local high
schools torture the English language and display so much
difficulty reading and writing.
Without a sound education, so many of those kids are simply
fodder for further court entanglements or a promising career
in hospital dietary or housecleaning.
As to point two, when you compare who pays for these school
levies, the heaviest burden falls on the homeowner, However,
the businesses who benefit from an educated workforce,
escape the blade of the tax man.
Bad policy…clueless politicians.
Yes, it is a tough sell to ask a homeowner to hand over more
money for education for Toledo public schools when you
realize that parents who have the financial wherewithal can
opt out and send their kids to private or parochial schools.
Yet, for the life of me, I cannot understand this glaring
omission by the Toledo Board of Education and the
superintendent. Why are they intentionally passing up the
opportunity to get more monies by not requiring all
teachers, administrators, board members and staff members
who have kids of school age to mandate as a
requirement for employment that those kids must be
enrolled in a Toledo public school. No exceptions.
The last time I checked, for each enrolled student, TPS
receives a subsidy of $5800.00. Imagine the money that
Toledo Public is leaving on the table when they refuse to
confront this issue and yet they claim that they need money!
Why is this issue so combustible? You know why. Those above
stated parties who do not or don’t want to live in Toledo
but want to draw a paycheck from Toledo Public would revolt
if they had to have their child in a failing or near failing
school.
Or, is it a class issue that such TPS employees do not want
their child enrolled at a Scott or a Leverette or a
Glenwood or a Fulton or a Cherry or a Mount Vernon school?
Is it OK for them to draw their sustenance from Toledo
Public but not OK for them to have their kid(s) sit in a
classroom next to a Shanneoquia or a Tay’tone?
I know…I know. You are saying that I should not introduce
the twins of class and race into the discussion, but I just
did.
Imagine for the all past decades and all of the hundreds of
past and present Toledo Public employees and teachers and
administrators who talked about you sending your kid(s) to
TPS but their kids(s) were allowed and are allowed to
quietly skip out and run off to a suburban school or a
parochial school. Is that right? Is that fair?
Think of all of the lost millions of subsidy monies that
were lost to Toledo Public due to this wretched and
selective segregated arrangement.
So, if Durant wants to pound the drum for more monies and he
wants to be credible while doing so, he needs to impose upon
the school board to pass emergency legislation that is akin
to the following:
Be it enacted as an emergency act that:
Effective for the school year 2015-2016, all employees of
Toledo Public
Schools who draw a paycheck or are salaried and board
members who have child(ren) of school age are to place said
child(ren) in a Toledo Public School.
All employment contracts and contracts for employment
renewal for the school year 2015-2016 shall require all
Toledo Public employees to enroll their child(ren) in a
Toledo Public School.
All employees not covered by the above paragraphs shall be
allowed continued employment due to their current employment
contracts and upon expiration of same, all new contracts for
employment shall have the above enrollment requirements.
Romules Durant. Toledo Public. Are you serious about
improving the education in the public schools or are you
just dibbling and dabbling and hoping that the tax payer
will bail you out…again?
If the employees of TPS do not believe enough in their
employer and the quality of their own teaching confederates
to enroll their kids in the system that provides them with
a roof over their heads and food on the table, let’s quit
kidding each other and tell the parents that TPS engages in
a double standard.
Contact Lafe Tolliver at Tolliver@Juno.com
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