Oxford citizens, concerned over the under-funded Talawanda School District and the community’s failure to pass levies for much-needed improvements, have begun to look into the prospect of splitting Oxford city and Oxford Township away from the current district.
“We think this is a win-win situation for both Oxford residents and residents of Reily, Milford, and Hanover Townships,” said James Brock, another member of TSRC’s exploratory committee.
“We
are in the formative stages,” said Doug Troy, member of the Talawanda
School Reorganization Committee’s exploratory team. While this process
is in the very early stages, the feasibility of reorganizing the district and
the success other communities have had in de-consolidation efforts had Oxford
citizens excited at the last meeting of TSRC.
At an April 14 meeting at the Oxford Chamber of Commerce, the exploratory committee unveiled its preliminary findings about the possibility of deconsolidating the school district.
While the committee started to show a brief Power-Point presentation at the meeting’s onset, the meeting was dominated by questions of concerned citizens. The meeting drew 23 citizens, mostly parents of students in the district, all very eager to have their questions answered.
“It’s an emotional issue on both sides,” said Miami chemistry professor Gil Pacey, who moderated the meeting. “Our residents want to find a way to improve the schools that have been insufficient for so long.”
The meeting ended with volunteer sign-up sheets being passed around, as the TSRC tries to step up its efforts to make deconsolidation a reality.
“In a perfect world, we will
have our own district by July 1, 2004,” Pacey said in reference to a resident’s
question.
But Brock quickly added, “But this (de-consolidation) won’t go anywhere
without all of your help.”
As the meeting moved forward, the sense of excitement could clearly be seen in the enthusiasm and participation of those in attendance. However, the committee warned that the process would more than likely run into snags along the way.
“Deconsolidation is not a word in their laws,” Rebecca Luzadis said, referring to the Ohio Department of Education, which must approve any plan to split up a school district. “The ODE was formed for the purpose of consolidation, and they don’t have much experience with this.”
The state started consolidating school districts 35 years ago to help smaller and poorer districts compete academically with larger and wealthier districts. But, since consolidation, problems and disagreements between townships have put Talawanda School District in a state of financial limbo. School districts across Ohio have had similar fights.
Fortunately, a model for success can be found in the Miami Valley. The exploratory committee presented data showing how Monroe split from Middletown school district three years ago. Their residents, like Oxford residents, voted for the passage of school levies when the rest of the district would not. Through strong community support, Monroe was able to convince the Ohio Department of Education to grant them their own district. Since that point, Monroe school district’s rating, which measures academic excellence, has almost doubled the rating of the Middletown district.
“Monroe’s success in essential seceding from Middletown will be a good model for us,” Jody Brock said, another member of the exploratory committee.
Residents wondered if Miami University would take any role in advocating for deconsolidation.
“Some of us are Miami faculty, but we are Talawanda parents first and foremost,” Pacey said. “It’s important that we remember we are not splitting for the sake of splitting, but for a better school district for our kids.”
Pacey went on to say Miami knows about discussion of splitting the district, and will offer the community assistance when the process moves out of the initial stages.
While much work is to be done, committee members urged attendees to talk with people they know in the surrounding townships to make this a unified front. They displayed statistics showing the comparative size and property tax income of the two districts if Oxford was to split.
“The time to do this is now,” Pacey said. “Our school district has no debt, and the demographics are about even.”
Everyone agreed that the best possible situation would be to have no opposition to deconsolidation, which the ODE would look at unfavorably. An overwhelming majority of Monroe and Middletown residents approved of de-consolidation when they split.
“We have ultra-conservative
rural folk who don’t want liberal eggheads in Oxford running their school
district,” Pacey said. “It seems the only thing we agree on is we
want control of our own districts, so let’s convince people that this
is the best plan.”
To Contact TSRC:
Read a story by Drew about former congressional candidate John Parks