Durnbaugh, a registered sales associate for Midwestern Wealth Management, said voters should choose her again because she previously ran on the need for a comprehensive strategic plan for the school district.
“We went through that process, we involved the community, we involved all of our stakeholders and we are now starting Year Two on implementation of that process,” she said. “I’m super proud of that accomplishment, which is something that I ran on and we delivered. We are well into the implementation and excited to see the plan come to life.”
Cobb, who retired after 30 years of driving a school bus for Centerville City Schools and now drives part-time for Spring Valley Academy, said his attending Centerville board of education meetings since September 2020 has found him “pretty well versed” in what’s going on with the board. He said that his time spent with teachers and administrators while with the district has given him an understanding of its students and staff.
“It’s not so much that they absolutely need me to be there to guide them, but I want to be there to support all the great work that they’re doing,” he said.
Graf-Hurst, a Centerville High School graduate, was an assistant professor of Neonatology at Ohio State University and Nationwide Children’s Hospital from 2012 to 2016. Now a neonatologist for Pediatrix Neonatology of Ohio, she said voters should choose her for the school board because “I bring a combination of life and work experience and a collaborative approach to problem solving that I think will benefit the school board, the school district and the community. I think right now that’s really important.”
Candidates’ top issues
Durnbaugh said the biggest challenge facing the district continues to be school funding.
“The state deems our district as, (in) their terms, a wealthy district, and therefore we are on what’s called the Guarantee, which means that we get very little if any increase in our state funding,” she said. “Yes, we do get minor increases in our state funding, but when you look at our overall budget, we are still almost 80% funded by our property taxes, so that just makes it difficult to maintain.”
The key to continuing to address that, she said, is remaining in contact with state representatives.
Credit: Holly Moore Photography
Credit: Holly Moore Photography
Cobb said the biggest challenge facing Centerville is its continued recovery from the consequences of the pandemic.
To help with that, he said he would encourage things like clubs, student groups and specialized classes that can help students “get on track with motivation” and with being excited about school.
“One thing that I would do ... is make sure that Centerville schools continues to be open to children who can’t financially be involved in the pay-to-play (for activities) right away,” he said. “I want to make sure that everyone knows they’re all welcome to be in whatever activity or whatever organization they feel drawn to, regardless of whether they can pay the initial price that’s mentioned or not.”
Graf-Hurst said school districts across Ohio and the country are facing a number of challenges, including school funding, safety and figuring out how to support teachers and staff at a time when fewer people are going into education and burnout among existing educators is “tremendous.”
She said all three “feed into one another” and a way to help address all three is actively listening to try to find common ground among the varying perspectives to find some new ways forward.
“There are good ideas out there. It’s just I think sometimes we get so wrapped up in singular ideas or I don’t know if it’s personnel agenda, that maybe if we stopped to hear and understand varying perspectives, we can come up with some new solutions,” Graf-Hurst said.
November tax levy
All three candidates for Centerville’s school board said they support an item on the ballot this November: a permanent 5.9-mill additional tax levy.
Under the proposed levy, 5.4 mills would pay for day-to-day operating expenses for the 8,200-student district, and 0.5 mills would go to permanent improvements to long-term assets (facilities, buses, etc.).
A 5.4-mill (levy) would generate an additional $11.8 million annually for operating expenses. The district’s existing annual general fund budget is about $120 million. The 0.5-mill portion of the request would generate approximately $1 million to the district’s permanent improvement budget, which is for maintenance of its facilities. The average age of the district’s buildings is 59 years.
If voters say yes, the levy would cost a homeowner an additional $206.50 a year per $100,000 of appraised property value, the Montgomery County Auditor’s Office confirmed.
Cobb said “clearly, we ... need to at least ask for the money for the levy. If the community doesn’t support it this time — I hope they do. I really do — but even if they don’t, I think it was right to ask for it and then be prepared to ask for a modification of it next time.”
The levy, Durnbaugh said, is very important for the district’s everyday operations and also includes some permanent improvement monies, which allow the district to maintain its buildings and buses, update its Chromebook computers and carry out other important aspects of classroom learning, she said.
“Almost 80% of our funding comes from our local taxpayers, which is unfair, but it is the situation that we’re in,” she said.
Graf-Hurst said she supports the district’s students and schools, but if voters do not approve the levy, she would work on finding alternative funding methods before bringing such a measure back to voters.
“I don’t know that coming back to the public every three to four years for a levy is a sustainable model anymore,” she said.
Hot-button political topics
All three candidates said that although numerous school districts nationwide are banning certain books after parents objected to various content, Centerville schools should not do so, but should instead work with parents to find a solution.
“I don’t necessarily feel like one parent’s choice regarding that should impact what the rest of the school is able to have access to,” Graf-Hurst said.
Cobb said he has “complete faith” in the Centerville school librarians to make decisions about what books should be in the school libraries.
Durnbaugh said the more a district involves parents in what their students are checking out and accessing in school libraries the better, but “I don’t think banning books is the right approach, by any means. I just don’t think any blanket approach is the right answer.”
On recent transgender policy issues arising in local schools, all three candidates said that a school district should back the rights of all students, regardless of how they identify.
Graf-Hurst said “all students in a public school should have a safe place to learn and grow.”
Durnbaugh said the district’s policies are purposely “very broad” and “allow for dealing with with situations as they come up on a case-by-case basis.”
Cobb said he is “a little bit embarrassed” by how some people have demonized some transgender people. “I think it’s an important thing that every child be respected for who they are, for what they need,” he said.
About the Author
