Researcher paints gloomy picture of Dayton's economy

[AngryOldDem]

http://www.daytondailynews.com/o/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/education/entries/2008/06/02/researcher_pain.html


<<A researcher painted a bleak economic outlook Monday for business and community leaders seeking to help Dayton schools plan for a November levy.

Richard Stock, director of the Business Research Group at the University of Dayton, said the city has seen declines — and in some cases dramatic drops — in employment, median income and real estate values in recent years.

Stock said the prospects for a recovery in the next three years are slim. And while the tax burden in Dayton is lower when compared to nearby communities, it feels heavier to city residents who, on average, have much lower incomes.

“There are reasons why lower income people are concentrated in the city of Dayton,” he said. “There is a reason why, as a collective, they make decisions about the kinds of taxes they can afford.”<<
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And, presenting the argument from the Alternative Universe, we have Premier Health Partners CEO Thomas Breitenbach, who says that things aren't that bad. We can't take the statistics too much out of context, and cites the passage of the Sinclair Community College and Human Services levies as proof that voters will OK a Dayton school levy.

However...Stock paints a pretty fair picture of Dayton's economic health:

-- A cut of 33,000 manufacturing jobs since 2000.
-- Median income is 10.5% lower than a decade, and that is the sharpest fall of ANY major Ohio school district (think Cleveland and Cincinnati).
-- The poverty rate of kids 5-17 was at 32.8% in 2005.

(If memory serves, both the SCC and Human Services levies did not pass with a commanding majority the last time around. And Dayton Public Schools' track record with levies is even worse. So I really don't share Breitenbach's "realistic optimism" that any levy at any millage will pass.)

I don't know what the answer is for Dayton. In many ways, I think it's too late. With IT companies like Lexis-Nexis and other established companies like NCR and Mead Westvaco almost nonexistent, Dayton is really backed into a corner. They were ecstatic when the GM plant in Moraine started back in production after the American Axle strike got settled, but then came the news that American Axle is now looking at layoffs of its own. That will most definitely impact things here.

For the few in Dayton like Breitenbach, the future is so bright that they gotta wear shades. Those shades also conveniently hide from him the stark reality of life in Dayton, which he can easily see (if he so chooses) from any window from his fiefdom at Miami Valley Hospital: Declining neighborhoods, an increasing homeless population, abandoned buildings, a downtown that is the equivalent of those false-facade Western movie sets (pretty buildings, but most empty), and simple fact that if you want a good job, you have to leave town. Ain't nothin' here. So Stock is right not to expect a turnaround in the next three years. Those who can will get out. Those who can't won't, and they will stay behind to make the most of whatever little they have.

It's sad to watch the place where you grew up wither and die. That is exactly what's happening to Dayton.

[MeDeMax]

1. IMHO, school funding shouldn't be a local issue

Property taxes are the wrong way to fund primary & secondary education.

I am not suggesting the state needs to start flooding the schools with bags of $100 bills by taxing everyone to death.

I am suggesting the money ought not to be raised via property tax levies at the local level, it has created an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty in most districts. The problem gets worse during difficult times.

[AngryOldDem]

2. I could not agree more

But whenever any kind of reform bill comes up in the General Assembly, it's akin to dinosaurs mating.

Using property tax to fund schools is about as inequitable as it gets. If anything or anybody deserves a level playing field, it's public education and its students. Charter schools, of which Dayton has had many failures, are not the answer either.

[MeDeMax]

3. I feel it is okay to use property tax as one of the funding

vehicles for public schools. What I vehemently oppose is leaving that decision to individual localities.

So collect property taxes uniformly statewide, don't allow it to be a local issue.

Then based on where the children are distributed statewide, using sound science, build & repair schools based on where the need is.

Did I tell you about my plan to cut property taxes by half & offer county wide health care ?

Another day perhaps...