Worthington City School District voters may see another operating levy request as soon as next year, despite passing a tax issue last fall.

Treasurer Jeff McCuen said the district's new five-year forecast shows expenses exceeding revenue by more than $2.6 million by the end of June, which is the end of fiscal year 2010.

A carryover balance keeps the district from an actual budget deficit until 2014, but the deficit would be a big one that year, McCuen said: more than $15.6 million.

Numbers fluctuate, but what won't change is the bottom line, McCuen said, and the district is now spending more than it's taking in.

McCuen said Tuesday, May 25, that the numbers in the monthly financial report "look like we'll doing a little better than the forecast. We'll still be in deficit spending, but maybe not to that degree."

Voters approved a 6.9-mill incremental levy request in November 2009 after turning down a 7.4-mill tax issue in May 2009.

The bottom line means more cuts or more revenue, McCuen said.

He said a 6-mill levy request in November 2011 would provide $26.4 million -- enough to last through 2014.

Without those funds, a 10-mill levy would be needed in November 2012, with another request on its heels one year later, he said.

McCuen said he never promised the incremental tax issue would be enough to last three years.

Worthington school board members discussed some of the district's financial woes in a workshop held May 7 and the board meeting held May 10. McCuen presented the new financial forecast at that time, prompting board Vice President Marc Schare to say, "Something has to change or we are about to fall off a cliff."

Schare said a change in staff members' negotiated agreements should be considered, instead of cutting more school programs.

Board members responded to Schare's comment and discussed the financial situation again at the board meeting Monday, May 24.

"We are not anywhere close to a cliff," said board member Charlie Wilson.

"I am convinced this community will not allow this district to fall off a cliff -- it just can't happen," he said. "Other districts are much closer to falling off a cliff than we are. I'm firmly committed to keep this district as a district of choice and I think our community is also committed to this."

"I don't want to be in a line of lemmings watching other districts fall off a cliff and say, 'Well, we weren't the first to go,' " board member David Bressman responded.

Bressman said at the work session that changes in the school program should be discussed, such as reconfiguring elementary schools into K-3 and 4-6 buildings, instead of each one holding grades K-6. He also suggested creating a sixth-grade building in Perry Middle School.

Perry Middle School is scheduled to close this fall, leaving only the Phoenix program in the building as Perry students move to the McCord building.

Two parents spoke to board members during the May 24 meeting regarding Bressman's ideas.

Michelle Colter Dickson said "elementary school parents do not want our neighborhood schools changed or to have our children bused across town.

"We don't want to be in the position of the middle school parents, who have no voice in the closing of their school," she said.

Dickson said she is ready to be on a parent-administrator task force "immediately."

Bressman assured her "there is no task force to discuss reconfiguration."

"Nothing has been decided and there are no back-door deals," he said. "I brought reconfiguration up at the work session because I thought we should discuss these things. Nothing is a done deal, but I said what I did because we have to discuss ways to save money.

"I will not vote to approve putting a levy request on the ballot next year unless we have those discussions," Bressman said.

Schare said the district is struggling to operate "under constraints" that include a parent base that seems to indicate changes such as the middle school restructuring and any thought of reconfiguration to save money will be resisted.

"And the community has told us by their votes we cannot expect to pass levies in excess of 7 mills," he said.

He said the state legislature is throwing a steady stream of unfunded mandates at school districts.

"The administration has done what they can by looking for cuts without hurting the program; however, despite the cuts, we are where we are, with the promise of more cuts to come, more community angst and more over-the-top levy campaigns where we have to threaten to cut everything under the sun to win increasingly larger millages at increasingly shorter intervals," he said.

Schare said he hoped board members could use the first two months of summer to look at the state audit report, the Treasurer's Advisory Committee recommendations, "and get on with making the structural changes necessary to get to reasonable levies at reasonable intervals.

"I hope we don't try to start another levy campaign until we do that," he said.