Page 33 - 1980

L IN E Ralston High School

90th & Park Drive

Merger
by Chris Denny Ralston, NE 68127
Parents oppose OPS merger; School RHS gets

Board will fight in court if necessary 'short end'

eptember 17 was the A survey was given by the Schools with OPS, and it
Sdate that the Ralston District Advisory Council asked what the parents’ hat kind of an effect
Board of Education adopted (which is made up of the dis­ opinions were. W would a merger with the
a resolution opposing a trict’s patrons) to the par­ Omaha Public Schools have
'N oranbw 1971 Chalktalk
merger with the Omaha Pub­ ents on November 1 and 2 at on the Ralston School Dis­
lic Schools. They also stated parent/teacher confer­ — SURVEY RESULTS— * trict?
that they 'will take whatever ences. According to Ralston High
action is necessary in order The questionnaire stated 2,384 parents were opposed School Assistant Principal
to remain a separate dis­ that there has been talk of a to the merger (97.5%). Earl Taylor, the effect would
trict.’ merger of the Ralston 37 parents had no opinion “greatly lessen the quality”
(1.5%). of education that Ralston’s
24 parents were in favor of students are receiving now.
the merger (1 %). “ If Ralston were forced to
merge with the OPS the
effects would be devastating
for both districts. The larger
After the board meeting
on November 5 and the sur­ a district gets, the less the
vey results were in, Ralston district is able to respond to
at Board of Education Presi­ the community’s needs,”
dent John Fifer said, “ We Taylor said.
lit are in agreement with Mil­ “ Of course Ralston would
aii) lard and Westside to pro­ get the shortest end of the
du ceed together in joint action stick. We’d have to adopt a
in to maintain separate school budget lid, which would
is districts as they are now mean the deletion of many
h established, and our legal of the programs that set us
t counsel will work with their above many school districts.
legal counsel to support our We would also have to start
position.” busing kids. That would
really put a pinch on the
budget as well as being a
Left: The Omaha School District bumps the Ral­ hindrance to after-school
ston, Millard, and District 66 schools. One of
Omaha's reasons for the merger is that some activites.
students that attend the three suburban dis­
I'd tricts actually live in the Omaha city limits. The “One of Ralston’s biggest
suburban schools, however, had their boundary
is- lines set years ago, with no complaints from the assets is its, size. Because
Omaha district.
we are so small, we have
Money is keyplayer inthe merger game local control and are able to
respond to the needs of the
ef Operating Oper. Cost Tax Value Mill Percent State Aid
School Levy Minority Per Student community much more
|N Enrollment Budget Per Student Per Student effectively than a large
is Omaha .46,389 $89,090,941 $1,921 $31,945 40 28.8 $239 school district. We are able
District 66 .6,726 45.75 1.5 164
Millard . .11,741 16,043,580 2,385 43,738 46.01 1.7 298 to deal with the individual.”
Ralston . . .3,875 17,937,583 1,528 24,571
US! 8,795,259 2,270 39,100 49.21 3 135 “ Another distinct advan­
hese 1979-80 figures are from the Omaha’s mill levy is lower this year than tage of our smallness is that
the time span from idea to
T Nebraska Department of Education or initially planned because of budget costs product is so much shorter
the four school districts. required by the property tax lid imposed by than OPS. We have devel­
Operation cost per student was computed voters.
IS by dividing the operating budget by the The tax value per student is the assessed oped a variety of quality pro­
» grams, many of which OPS
enrollment. Cost per student varies accord­ valuation (35 percent of actual value) of does not and can not afford
ing to class size and other factors such as property subject to taxation.
teachers’ years of experience, which lead to State aid per student is based on the to offer.”
"I guess you could say
salary increases. amount of aid each district expects to that Ralston believes that
Millard, for example, because its enroll­ receive this school year.
ment is growing and it is hiring new teachers Omaha World Herald SMALLER IS BETTER.”
has a younger teaching staff with a lower
average salary than District 66 or Omaha,
which are hiring fewer new teachers.