To the Editor:

In her letter, Cheryl Shirk (Worthington News, July 7) equates my pointing out that no real savings in district expenditures can be achieved without looking at expenditures for the staff with the statements from Educate Worthington and "others" about teacher salaries being too high. I believe there is a world of difference in context between the pronouncements from Educate Worthington, which usually have come coupled with opposition to levies, and mine that comes as a "heads-up" for what I see as an upcoming problem.

In addition to changes in enrollment, what might (will) cause the cuts is not the level of staff compensation, but rather something that no one wants to face: the dismal state of Ohio fiscal situation, coupled with tax law changes that impact the Worthington City School District more than many other districts. Because the issue is very difficult to deal with and the potential solutions would make everybody unhappy, this being an election year, none of the political "leaders" seem to want to speak realistically about it.

If history is prologue, we can expect that the state deficit will be made up in part by passing the problem on to local entities, be they school districts, municipalities, libraries, etc., and so all stakeholders should be mentally and strategically prepared for such an eventuality.

A comparison favored by Educate Worthington and reiterated by Shirk is the difference between the salary schedules of the Worthington district and those of the nearby and comparable Olentangy district. A thorough study of the two schedules shows that whereas Worthington's grid gives preference to the advancement of younger teachers, Olentangy's gives it to older, more experienced teachers.

Consequently, any monetary differences depend on the age and experience of the staffs at any given time.

Abramo Ottolenghi