Swimming cut may endanger recreation complex finances ? Local ...

VERNON TOWNSHIP ? ??We need to pay to play,? is how Crawford Central School Board President Jan VanTuil sums up a new fiscal relationship between the school district and Meadville Area Recreation Complex that school board members agree should begin by July 1, 2013.

During the 2011-12 school year, the district?s annual contribution accounted for $265,000 of MARC?s $1 million budget. When the district?s current budget went into effect a year ago, that contribution dropped to $200,000.

The proposed 2012-13 budget the school board expects to adopt during its monthly meeting Monday night includes $206,000 for the MARC ? 3 percent above last year?s amount but still significantly below previous levels.

However, school board members and Superintendent Charlie Heller made it perfectly clear during the board?s work session Monday night that the partnership that has endured since the Meadville Area Recreation Authority was formed almost four decades ago is about to undergo a dramatic transformation.

?Do we need the Recreation Authority?? school board member Richard Curry wanted to know when talk first turned to the $206,000 payment.

?Are we wasting our money at the rec complex?? school board member Frank Schreck asked.

When the district reduced its contribution by 30 percent last year, the rec authority was told that the school board would look at increasing the contribution gradually, Heller said. However, he continued, the authority has since been told that the district will no longer be a partner after the 2012-13 school year. ?It gives them a one-year opportunity to look at securing funds,? Heller explained.

While the district?s annual contribution would cease, however, ?we?re not going to ask the rec complex for service we aren?t willing to pay for,? VanTuil told the Tribune after Monday?s work session. ?We would pay a fee for services instead of an annual fee. What we?re saying is that we can no longer be the basis for their budget through an annual contribution of X amount of dollars. They need to be able to fund and maintain the rec complex without total reliance on Crawford Central. Then we can be a user just like anyone else who is willing to pay for it.?

The City of Meadville and Vernon and West Mead townships, the rec authority?s municipal partners, also make annual contributions.

?We?ve enjoyed a great union for 36 years,? Mike Fisher, MARC?s executive director, said Monday afternoon. It?s unfortunate that we?re in the position that we are ? it?s something that I?m sure they don?t relish and wish they didn?t have to do. These are drastic times for the school district and they?re looking at drastic measures. We understand that the school district is between a rock and a hard place. Unfortunately, that puts us between a rock and a hard place.?

During their upcoming monthly meeting, school board members are expected to approve the elimination of the position of district aquatics instructor, a move that will automatically eliminate swimming instruction from the district?s elementary and secondary physical education curriculum. Until the end of the 2011-12 school year, fourth-graders from throughout the Meadville attendance area were bused to the Thurston Road complex for swimming lessons and students from Meadville Area Middle School and Meadville Area Senior High School walked to the complex to swim as part of their physical education program.

The district?s swim team, which uses the pool at the MARC outside regular school hours, will continue to use the facility at least through the 2012-13 school year, Heller said.

However, Heller drew a line between school and sports. ?The rec complex will cut into the education we provide to our students,? he told school board members Monday. ?Two hundred six thousand dollars is three extra teachers. Our main focus is educating our children between the hours of 8 (a.m.) to 3 (p.m.). Anything else is peripheral.?

Heller made it clear that the school district had given its word to the rec authority that the $206,000 payment would be made this year. Even though the facility?s pool will no longer be part of the district?s physical education program, that payment has been included in the district?s 2012-13 budget, which is scheduled to be approved Monday night during the school board?s monthly meeting.

As for the future, ?We?re extremely concerned,? Fisher said. ?The only reason we have a winter operation with the pool is with the school district being there. The community is not large enough to support a facility like this year-round. It?s going to be very difficult for us to find a partner.?

Mary Spicer can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at mspicer@meadvilletribune.com.

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