MARTINSBURG — The school board of the Career and Technology Education Centers of Licking County, C-TEC for short, has placed a 1-mill operating levy on the May ballot. Knox County residents in Martinsburg, and Clay, Milford, Miller and Morgan townships will help determine whether the issue will pass or fail. Passage of the levy will amount to $30.36 per year for the owner of a $100,000 home.
Superintendent Joyce Malainy said C-TEC is operating on the same 2-mill property tax rate as it was in 1976. Those funds cover day-to-day expenses such as utilities, maintenance, textbooks, lab equipment, teacher salaries and benefits, special education and library materials.
C-TEC serves approximately 1,340 high school juniors and seniors; the adult education center serves approximately 4,000 adults through its programs.
Since the 2007-08 school year, the district has made approximately $2 million in reductions. Malainy said faculty and staff have voluntarily taken pay freezes; full-time, non-teaching staff members have taken 10-day unpaid furloughs; staff members who are retiring are not being replaced; and four administrative positions were cut prior to this year and two additional positions will be cut regardless of levy results. The board will be acting on recommendations to make $1.6 million more in reductions at the end of this school year, regardless of the outcome of the levy.
“With a levy failure in May,” Malainy said, “we anticipate another $1.7 million in reductions, which greatly reduces services and will close a total of 15 programs districtwide.”
Additional levy facts and information may be found under the heading Levy Materials at cteclevy.org.
