GROVE CITY -- Three weeks after voters rejected a request to increase the school levy, the Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City School Board agreed to hold another election in three months to seek the same levy increase.
At its meeting Monday, the board set Feb. 13 as the new election date.
Ballots will be cast from 3:30 to 8 p.m. at polls at all three schools in the district. A motion to combine the polls in one location failed for lack of a second.
The election still needs final approval from the state education commissioner.
The special election will ask voters to revoke an existing operating levy of $450 per pupil and replace it with a levy of $1,444.
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That same request was defeated Nov. 7 by a 187-vote margin, despite an active campaign by a citizens' group.
Superintendent Pamela Kyllingstad said she doesn't know what will be done differently this time around to get the levy passed.
"We just have to keep trying, though," she said.
Voters also turned back a request for a levy increase in December of 2005.
ACGC is in statutory operating debt, which means the money the district has in its unreserved general fund doesn't mean the financial standards required by the state.
If the levy had passed Nov. 7, it would have generated about $380,000 a year to help get the district out of debt.
Since that didn't happen, the school board is looking to implement additional budget cuts this year, including new admission fees to sports activities that went into effect Tuesday night. The new admission rates mean senior citizens will no longer get a price break but will be required to pay the full $6 adult fee. For the first time, the district will also be charging admission fees to attend baseball and softball games and track events. The price for yearly passes will also be increasing.
Budget cuts will be made next year even if the levy passes in February. Kyllingstad said the board is hoping to avoid cuts to programs, but she said there will be reductions in the special education department, changes in the junior high athletic department that will mean fewer games and less travel, increases in driver's ed fees and consideration of cutting the late activity bus. At least two retirements, including one position that won't be replaced, will help reduce expenses, she said.
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Because one of the planned budget cuts includes a reduction in physical education staff, the school board agreed to reduce the required graduation credits by one. ACGC currently requires 10th- through 12th-grade students to take physical education. In order the make the budget cut work, the physical education credit had to be dropped, said Kyllingstad.
She also said the finance committee has instructed her to review the food service budget and examine the possibility of a mid-term increase for meals to make sure that fund doesn't lose money.
In other business Monday:
n The board approved selling $610,000 in general obligation capital facilities bonds to Wells Fargo Brokerage Services at an interest rate of 3.7 percent. The funds will be used to pay for building improvement projects already completed at all three buildings.
n The board learned there are not enough children enrolled in the day care program at South Elementary in Cosmos to make it financially sustainable. The community education board will discuss options.
n The Truth-in-Taxation hearing is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Dec. 6 in the junior/senior high media center.
