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| Zanesville City School Superintendent Terry Martin |
Grover Cleveland Junior High School was a public middle school in Zanesville, Ohio. Completed in 1924 and named after President Grover Cleveland, it was the city's first junior high school. The school colors, blue and gold, were adopted during its first year of operation.
Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837 – June 24, 1908) was the 22nd and 24th President of the United States.. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms (1885–1889 and 1893–1897) and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents.
The new Grover Cleveland Junior High School just opened it's doors in the fall of the 2005-2006 school year and in 2011 had to turn it into the New Community High School for budget deficit problems.
For the 2011-12 school year it was decided that there would no longer be two middle schools, they would combine them into an new existing middle school building and Grover Cleveland would have to be house to the new Community high school to cut the cost of running the city schools and collect income from the Community High School. Zanesville Times Recorder, Aug. 30, 2011
Roosevelt, Grover Cleveland students combine at Zanesville Middle School
The students at the rechristened Zanesville Middle School are all Blue Devils now, as the students come together for a new school year and the start of new traditions.
There, Rough Riders and Bulldogs are no more.
District officials decided to combine students from the former Roosevelt and Grover Cleveland middle schools at one campus this year, as part of facilities restructuring and staff reductions made earlier this year in an effort to stave off a projected $6.2 million budget deficit in 2013. The district's measures have helped them eliminate that deficit and its current five-year financial forecast is projecting a positive $5.2 million balance.
There are so many superintendents and teachers double dipping the system which affects a property owner (real estate). Terry Martin has adopted the idea of Retire-Rehire for this school system which is nothing more then retiring only to get rehired at same job or another school district, all the while collecting a pension as well as their school paycheck plus a 3% annual cost of living raise on top of their pension.
For example: Fact;
The Washington Times Friday, February 18, 2011
Ohio taxpayers, like their colleagues in Wisconsin, know all too well about the high cost of generous defined-benefit pensions and other compensation deals struck by states, districts and affiliates of the National Education Association (NEA) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT). A 57-year-old Ohio teacher with 35 years of experience receives an annuity equal to as much as 88 percent of his final year’s salary, along with guaranteed annual cost-of-living raises of 3 percent. It’s why the average retired teacher in Ohio collected $54,784 in 2010, an amount 15 percent higher than the state’s median household income.
With Ohio struggling to close an $8 billion budget shortfall in its two-year budget and wrestling with $47 billion in teachers’ pension deficits and unfunded retiree benefits, state officials want to end the deal. Late last month, the state’s Teachers Retirement System proposed increasing teacher contributions to pensions from 10 percent to 14 percent over the next three years and cutting cost-of-living increases by a third. The state’s NEA affiliate, already protesting about an effort to end collective bargaining, is even more displeased about the pension moves. Nevertheless, they will likely pass muster with Gov. John Kasich and the Republican-dominated legislature.
If the teacher-contribution increases are approved, Ohio would be the latest state to revisit the pensions and pay packages that have made teaching the most lucrative profession in the public sector.
Based upon the Washington Times the average Ohio teacher pension is $54,784.00. with the 3% annual cost of living increase that is an additional $1,643.52 next year. In 10 years that $54,784.00 is now $71,219.20 a year in their pension alone not to mention their rehire paycheck at about $46,566.40.
So on average a teacher in Ohio volunteered for the retire-rehire program that teacher's annual income is $101,350.40 (WOW)! now add the 3% cost of living. In 10 year that that same teacher that retired 10 years ago is now bringing in an annual income of $117,785.60!! How do you sustain that?
Driving these moves is the fact that states face $260 billion in shortfalls over the next two fiscal years, along with at least $1.4 trillion in teacher pension deficits and unfunded teacher retiree costs, and concerns about the abysmal performance of the nation’s public schools. Taxpayers, legislators and governors finally are concluding that pensions and other elements of traditional teacher pay are neither fiscally tenable nor effective in improving student learning.
Do you realize that you, the taxpayer (say it with me, ME THE TAX PAYER) will have to make up this enormous difference! Who will help you like that when you retire? Will you be able to retire? And does not cover the other government or city employees that we are paying for.
A non-property (real estate) owner should not be eligible to vote for any property tax increase especially when it comes to property taxes funding the school system, Only a property owner or real estate owner should be able to vote on this subject since they are the ones footing the bill. A tenant, renter or government housing recipient should not be eligible to vote on these issues.
1997
• New Hampshire - 61.4%
• New Jersey - 45.1%
• Texas - 43.8%
Ohio (28.7%) ranks 30th among all the states.
In 2008 Governor Strickland latest budget proposal forecast that the state’s share of funding public schools would rise to 59% by 2017. 2017 it is only 2011 and my property taxes are already above Gov Strickland 2008 predictions at 61.9%. Nearly 2/3 of my property taxes go to fund the schools in my district and the Ohio Supreme Court found that under the Ohio Constitution it is unconstitutional to rely so heavily upon property tax to fund the school system.
1997 Ohio Supreme Court declares system of school funding unconstitutional.
March 24, 1997 Ohio Supreme Court rules the state's school-funding system is inadequate and unconstitutional. The 4-3 decision gives state lawmakers a year to overhaul the system by reducing the reliance on local property taxes.
Sept. 18, 1997 As state lawmakers grapple with court-ordered changes in the state's school-funding system, the Ohio Public Expenditure Council reports that property owners will pay a record $ 5.9 million to run schools.
Unfortunately for state officials, the Ohio Supreme Court provided no real guidance on how to create a constitutional school-funding program. The legislature, instead of implementing an entire overhaul of the system, simply authorized more state funds to schools. In 2000, 2001, and 2002, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled again that the school-funding process in Ohio remained unconstitutional, but the court eventually determined that the Ohio government had made a good-faith effort to change public school funding, and the justices overturned their earlier rulings. Critics of school funding in Ohio remain active in calling for a complete overhaul of the system and an end to the heavy reliance upon property taxes.
Since the creation of public schools in 1825, Ohioans have debated how best to fund public education in the state. Property taxes have been the major means to finance public schools, but many people claim that such a system is not fair to all students in Ohio. Not only does the State of Ohio utilize property taxes, among other means, to finance schools, but local school boards are also allowed to implement property taxes, with voter approval.
Ohio ranged from $4,000 per pupil to $12,000 per pupil. Only Texas ($2,112 to $19,333) and North Dakota ($2,085 to $11,743) had greater per pupil expenditure disparities. In spite of DeRolph, these
Disparities and Ohio’s reliance on local property taxes still exist today.
Zanesville Times Recorder Oct 21, 2006
The district spent at least $6,400 on the search for a superintendent by entering into a contract with the Ohio School Boards Association. "There might be some criticism with spending $6,000. Frankly, I think it was money that was well spent and we want to have the best person that we can find to move our system forward," Vandegriff said.
Who gave the school board the right implement our property taxes? Did the Government give them that right? Did you vote for that? It is a law that needs to be repealed. If you don't own property what do you have to lose not your house like other people.
It is hard to believe that the school board spent over $6,400 of your taxpayer dollars to find a new superintendent and chose the assistant superintendent who was just a .25 cent phone call away or a walk to his office to give him the good news.
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| Zanesville City School Superintendent Terry Martin Photo from Zanesville Times Recorder |
In July 2006 Terry Martin was hired in as Zanesville City School Superintendent and in Oct. 2006 he pushed for a .5-mill levy on to the voters. Many of the voter do not pay property taxes in the first place sure they will benefit from it and their kids will to but where is their contribution when they vote for an increase? You can see my contribution on the check when I pay my property taxes next half. I can't afford any more taxes can you? If you can afford to pay more taxes then pay for my taxes over the next 40 years.
Is this one of the reasons why our property taxes are so high and levy's are placed on the ballot so we can pay for his salary and others like him? I would have a smile on my face to if I was making $100,000.00 a year and running a school district into the ground. Is it fair that the taxpayer pays his salary but does not get to vote on the limit he can receive. The school board votes for his salary and their own salary (just like congress).
Now don't get me wrong every man and woman deserves an honest wage for an honest days work but to the people that are struggling to pay their mortgage and feed their children is this a fair wage for an honest days work?
Zanesville Times Recorder Jul 27, 2006
As interim superintendent, Martin's annual salary is set at $100,000. His salary as assistant superintendent was $89,960
.Zanesville Times Recorder Oct 21, 2006
"I'd like to maintain communications with employees and to work hard to pass the .5-mill levy, because not only the school system, but the community will benefit from it," Martin said.
The .5-mill maintenance levy will raise $200,000 a year for the district and Martin said all of the money will go to the care and maintenance of the school buildings for the next 30 years. It will cost the owner of a $100,000 home $15.31 per year.
I have an idea that would stop all the waste in the school districts, why not instead of the property owners having to pay school tax Levy's have the teachers, superintendents and all school officials take a $15.31 per year pay cut or in conjunction with the amount of money needed for the misappropriations of funds to operate the internal working structure.
toledoBlade.com
Zanesville, Ohio, just cut nearly 50 jobs from its schools, mostly through layoffs. “People have to realize: There’s just so much money,” says school Superintendent Terry Martin, who had to close a $7.2 million budget gap through 2016. “We have to watch every dime that we spend.”
An article from; Ohio.com Saturday, September 3, 2011
For the full article visit: http://www.ohio.com/news/many-top-educators-double-dip-the-system-1.189180
For the past decade, Larry Morgan has been collecting a pension check from the State Teachers Retirement System and a paycheck as superintendent of the Stark County Educational Service Center.
He is paid $149,688 by the service center and a $6,000 supplemental salary, plus his employer contributes $10,000 to a tax-deferred annuity and he gets life insurance.
He also is paid $1 a year as superintendent of the county's R.G. Drage Career Technical Center. When he stops working or dies, according to his contract, Morgan or his heirs will be paid $5,000 for each year he has run the vocational center since 1995.
On top of that is his pension check. That's private, but the annual amount could easily be in six figures.
Morgan, 68, will spend about a fifth of his career collecting pension checks from the state retirement fund while receiving full pay as a superintendent, a practice often called double dipping. Absent the assurance that he could keep his full-time government job, Morgan said, he probably would not have retired on Aug. 1, 2000, when he was making $129,969.
Is Terry Martin the Zanesville City School Superintendent himself apart of the retire-rehire program, is he collecting an additional $79,164.80 from a pension bringing his yearly income to a total of around $179,164.80 with an additional 3% annually from his pension. That could be $2,374.94 additional income from his pension next year. In 10 years that amount has the possibilities to be near $202,914.20.I can't answer that question but he is the one that introduced the retire-rehire program in this area.
There are many other superintendents and teachers that are taking advantage of this retire-rehire all over the state and all across America. The really depressing thing is that there are all the city employees pension's to think about.
Zanesville Times Recorder
Zanesville taxpayers spent nearly $700,000 in 2009 to make pension pickup contributions for 200 city employees, payments that could have been made entirely by those employees.
Combined with mandatory employer contributions, around 8 percent of the city's revenue goes to the Public Employees Retirement System and the Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund every year.
County: Muskingum
Government Entity: Zanesville City
Total pension contributions in 2009: $3,130,551
Total revenues in 2009: $38,374,994
Percent of total revenues: 8.16%
Pickups paid in 2009: $691,179
Who gets a pickup? The city gives a partial pickup to members of the AFSCME, police and fire unions
Where does all this money come from? You know the answer just say it out loud!
It is very important that every child receives the proper education but not on the backs of hard working Ohio tax payer while school officials and the like double dip their way into a new tax bracket with a very lucrative and cozy retirement.
Look it up for yourself see what the truth is, just maybe it will compel you to get up and do something about it like perhaps a referendum maybe.
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In-depth study and huge amount of knowledge shared, Thanks a lot for the post.
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent post with a large amount of background information collected in one place. very illuminating in regard to a problem that is all over the state of Ohio and the USA. Laws like Ohio SB 5 will, in the long run, help to decrease this problem. Since SB 5 is represented this fall by State Issue 2, I will vote FOR State Issue 2 in order to help reverse this drain on taxpayer dollars that you have described in this post.
ReplyDeleteFor more information check out "betterohio.org"