Short thoughts on DPS school closings
Instead of a long post- I’m just going to share a few thoughts in a bite size chunk.
First off- if the district hadn’t been run by fools, this wouldn’t be an issue. The students are still in Dayton- they are just choosing to go elsewhere. Sure, better marketing might help, but DPS has failed to address a basic issue of safety, and academic performance is still perceived as mediocre overall.
The typical DPS High School is 450 students. We have Stivers, Ponitz, Belmont, Dunbar, Meadowdale, Thurgood Marshall. That’s 6 schools, with 6 staffs- including principals. I went to a three year high school that had 2,400 students and routinely had between 30 and 40 National Merit Scholars.
Dayton could have a lot less high schools and do just fine. Note, 9th grade is the critical point where DPS loses young black males. A dedicated 9th grade building, is one solution. The other problem is that DPS has Stivers, Belmont and Meadowdale going 7-12 which screws numbers up too.
When it comes to placement- Thurgood is almost in Trotwood- a district that only has 2400 students or so- and pays a superintendent, a treasurer, a school board and all the rest of that overhead. DPS could just merge with Trotwood and with Jefferson a district of 800- and save a ton of money on overhead and balance things out.
The real reason the city gives a shit about which buildings close you ask? Well, other than Nan Whaley’s megalomania? Meadowdale Elementary and HS are both in Harrison Twp- where the teachers don’t have to pay the 2.5% Dayton income tax. Close them down- and Dayton doesn’t care- close 2 others down- and they lose a few million in taxable income. How many of you think about stuff like that?
DPS just screwed parents twice in the last two years without asking- one was the switch to middle schools- which really pissed off a lot of Wright Brothers parents- and DPS switched to 4 bell times- which can be confusing and a pain in the rear for those with kids in the district in multiple buildings. DPS never asked the community about either switch- DPS just pulled the trigger- and shot themselves in both feet.
Maybe, if DPS went back to what was convenient for parents- they might come back to the district? Nah, DPS wouldn’t think about that.
And lastly- before DPS goes on and talks about involving the community in this discussion- maybe you can publish the exact numbers, trends, staffing and costs- for each building- so maybe the community can actually work with real data in doing an analysis? That’s how the big boys do it.
I’m placing a bet, a real, competent school board, hiring a superintendent that really knows and understands the district and the community- could solve these problems in less than 2 years.
You are incorrect regarding the income tax issue–staff at Meadowdale does pay Dayton city income tax. Actually, very few of them pay it and moving the building would be irrelevant, most of the teachers live outside of the district.
Staff tax base is based on the district address downtown. . . for clarification as to why all staff in the district pay city taxes regardless of their work location.
Sorry @Teacher- if you work at Meadowdale, you are taxed by the geographic location of your workplace- not the HQ. If you are being charged Dayton Income tax- you are being ripped off.
That’s one of the real problems for service companies- who have employees working in all kinds of different municipalities- and have placed contractors in locations- you are taxed by where the income is earned.
Just another example of DPS being run incompetently if you are taxed at Meadowdale.
If staff at Meadowdale are paying Dayton city income tax, there’s something shady going on. As you say David, income tax is based on your physical work location, not some “corporate” office location. Years ago, I worked at a facility in Dayton and our world headquarters just happened to be in Kettering – I, and everyone else at the location, paid Dayton income tax, not Kettering. We live in Germantown now and they want to build new schools and one sticking point with a single campus is that it would be located outside of the city limits and all of the employees wouldn’t pay Germantown (or Farmersville, where the junior high is located) income tax.
Teachers are not hired to a specific location, we are hired by the district, not a building, teacher contracts do not include specific guaranteed locations or positions, thus location can be changed if the district needs to, we would be considered a “type 3” employee so to speak according to Ohio income tax regulations. Additionally, this is pennies for the city of Dayton. The majority of staff in these buildings have a credit from Dayton because they pay a higher income tax to their local municipality.
@Teacher- it doesn’t matter where you are hired. It does matter where the work is done. And, no, you pay the income tax to the city you work in, and if you live in another city, with a higher income tax- you pay the additional- this is how Oakwood survived when they were at 2.5% and Dayton was at 2.25%
There are some cities that stopped giving the credit- like Brookville- which now charges an additional 1% to residents that work in Dayton.
As usual- DPS is incompetently run- and apparently hires people who don’t understand the law.
If you work in Harrison TWP- you don’t pay any income tax to Dayton, unless you live in Dayton. If you live in another community with an income tax- you will pay it.
If you live in a TWP or a city like Beavercreek- and work in Harrison TWP for DPS- you pay no income tax.
The only places where income tax is charged in a twp is where there is a JEDD- like the bullshit at Austin Landing- and there it only applies to retail workers- who pay 2% and the white collar workers pay nothing.
Unless the laws have been changed, David is correct that your municipal tax is based on where you work and/or live. If you are working in a non-taxing township and live in a non-taxing township, then you should pay no municipal tax. If you are in this scenario and DPS is still withholding Dayton income tax, then you need to file a statement with the City of Dayton citing the fact that you physically work outside of the City limits and are therefore not subject to their taxes. There MIGHT be some sort of exception if you work at the Dayton Airport or at Dayton Wright Brothers Airport. Both airports are owned and operated by the City and you might be considered as working in the City in that case. I can’t see how that would be the case with DPS properties though. @Hall – you are correct about Valley View Schools and the City of Germantown getting their panties in a wad about the possibility of losing the tax revenue if the buildings were moved to one of the Townships. I believe the City stood to lose somewhere around $25k per year if that had happened. Did you know that the wonderful city “leaders” in Germantown immediately started looking into forming a JEDD to try and recoup some of that money in the event that the school levy passed? But the JEDD would require the cooperation of the School District, either German or Jackson Township (depending on where the campus would have been built) and also Farmersville. That would have been an interesting endeavor. @Hall – Are you also aware of the fact that the Germantown City Council saw fit to repeal 100% of the resident tax credit for taxes paid to other cities effective 1/1/18? They did this because it gave them an avenue to increase revenues without having to put it by the voters. IMHO, they should have phased the credit removal in over a few years. The public might not have been so outraged. Rumor has it that they also just bought the old Huntington Bank… Read more »