Instead of school levy, Cleveland Heights-University Heights schools should trim administrative expenses: Sun Press Letter to the Editor

(Sun Press)

Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District wants another “current expense” levy. The 12 “expense” levies we already pay to the district – without end – have yet to do the job. I’ll cite data from the Ohio Department of Education.

There is the district’s dismal 578 out of 610 performance ranking. However, after Orange Schools, CHUH spends the highest on instructional costs. And, CHUH earns the 6^th highest revenue in the state! Impressive!

CHUH also has more full-time teachers than similar school districts – 512.40 compared to 415.10. We pay $71,347 on average, compared to $60,811, for teachers with four fewer years of experience (9.6 versus 13.2).

“But what about the 17.9 percent disability rate?” Orange, which performs at 35, and Mayfield (at 152) have disability percentages of 18.93 percent and 14.9 percent, respectively.

So, please stop threatening classroom program cuts should this levy fail. Instead, focus on another area: Administrative expenses, in which CHUH ranks 4^th highest.

According to ODE, we paid $3,262 per student. For 6,881 students (or 5,300 depending on the ODE report), that multiplies into $22.4 million in total administrative expenses. Yet, the list of administrators and their compensation, provided by the district treasurer, tallies to $5,531,382 ($804 per student).

So what of the remaining $15,468,618?

Try as I might, scouring every piece of ODE data, I could not trace that money trail. I requested some explanation from the district treasurer. He said he would have to ask the ODE. Stay tuned.

Diane Hallum,

Cleveland Heights