June 2004

Communities are measured in many ways.  I was reminded of this the other night as I watched some extraordinarily talented kids pour hearts and souls into their performances at Harding High School’s “Panorama” talent show.  Kelsey Osborne, Britney Lewis, Heather Beck, and Jenny Mastro delivered a rendition of “Mr. Sandman” with harmony as tight as any produced by the Andrews Sisters.  Laura Garvin’s “Galloping Comedian” on the xylophone and Matt Zyjewski’s “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” on the bassoon were virtuoso instrumental performances.  The Harding Singers were flawless and Shannon Jerome’s Irish step dance was a showstopper.  At the end of the show, Andy Volnenik’s amazing dexterity on the guitar would make you swear Stevie Ray Vaughan had been reincarnated on the Harding stage.  It was truly a night to remember.  And it was a product of the Marion City public school system.

Lucinda Houck, Rick Baird and, I’m sure, dozens of other talented teachers and mentors have coached, cajoled, rehearsed, scolded and praised the kids we saw perform.  The results of their efforts are obvious, year after year, for those of us lucky enough to see those kids—our kids—perform.  I know it’s like that in the other districts around the county as well.  Year after year, our kids win sports championships, science fairs, music competitions, and academic honors.  And this year, we, as a community, failed them.

School levies lost in every district in the county that had one on the ballot this spring.  “Our taxes are too high,” we heard from some quarters.  Judging from the grammar and spelling, some who wrote angry rants in the newspaper could have used a little more schooling in their formative years.  Schools are inefficient, they said.  We don’t get our money’s worth, they said.  We just can’t afford any more, they said.  Hogwash.

The evidence of the quality of the product produced by Marion City Schools was on stage the other night.  Similar performances could be found at the other county schools.  Those things don’t happen by accident.  They happen because dedicated people make them happen.  They happen because parents and a community get behind their kids, realizing they are the community’s future. 

Are taxes too high?  Are we overburdened here in Marion?  Contrary to the bawling of CAVE people (Citizens Against Virtually Everything), the evidence reveals that in Marion County, school taxes as a percentage of income are below the state average—and in the case of Marion City Schools, well below the average.  Among all the statistics kept by the Ohio Departments of Education and Taxation is something called “Tax Effort.”  It is the percentage of Federal Adjusted Gross Income taken by school taxes in every school district in the state.  In other words, how deeply are we digging into our income, no matter how high or low in absolute dollars, to support our schools?  The average for all 612 school districts in school year 2000 (the most recent data) was 1.74%.  But in the Marion City School District, we used just 1.28% of our income to support our schools.  That put us in the lowest fifth of Ohio school districts.  The bulk of those in there with us are school districts in the Appalachian counties. 

On the other hand, it appears districts whose citizens spend a greater portion of their income on their schools tend to produce positive results.  Here are a number of districts taxing themselves above the average with their Ohio School Report Card grades:  Bexley City, 1.99%, Excellent; Hilliard City, 2.20%, Excellent; Dublin City, 1.86%, Effective; Worthington City, 1.87%, Excellent; Gahanna-Jefferson, 1.79%, Effective; Big Walnut, 2.41%, Effective; Olentangy, 1.86%, Effective.   Marion City, 1.28%, Academic Watch.

Is the correlation exact?  No.  But it does appear that communities who revere education and spend more on it tend to produce better-educated students.  Better educations produce higher incomes and communities better able to sustain themselves. 

We’ll have an opportunity again in a few months to increase the amount we spend on our local schools—to prevent layoffs of teachers who will develop the talents in our young people.  We’ll have the opportunity to build our community.  Or we can cave to the CAVE people.  We can decide those dollars are better kept in our pockets, or spent on junk food, cigarettes, or something other than our kids.

You get what you pay for.  A community that short changes its kids short changes itself.  It becomes a lesser place—a place less attractive to those already here and those who might come—a place better moved from than to.  We’ll take the measure of our community in August.  How will we measure up?