VERMILION — Faced with a possible $19 million deficit by the 2012-13 school year, Vermilion is looking to “reinvent” its school district by proposing big changes in the next few years, including creation of a single campus for the entire district.

“We need to meet the needs of instruction for 21st century students,” Superintendent Phil Pempin said.

In the near term, the district is proposing the elimination of transportation for any of the district’s 2,284 students living within a mile of their respective schools for the 2010-11 school year.

The multipronged proposal was unveiled during a public meeting Monday night that drew more than 180 people.

The community will get more chances to weigh in on the big plan and ask questions during a 7 p.m. meeting Jan. 21 at Vermilion High School.

“These are the proposals and possibilities,” Pempin said. “We want to get more input and make sure the public is on board with our plans.”

The physical consolidation of the district, which is being referred to as a plans to “drive instruction through construction,” would see the creation of a mega-campus based around the existing high school-middle school complex off state state Route 60 at the city’s southern limits.

“We’d essentially be making a five-for-one trade,” Pempin said.

The plan would require voter approval of a bond issue totaling millions of dollars, but when it will be on the ballot and for how much remains to be seen.

“We know it will cost many millions, but it’s hard to speculate on the amount right now,” Pempin said Tuesday. “We’re saying it would cost taxpayers around $150 a year (in added taxes).”

The Ohio Schools Facilities Commission recommended that the district’s four school buildings be rebuilt. The schools range from South Street Elementary School, built in 1923, to Sailorway Middle School, constructed in 1978.

“I made an analogy to a Ford Fiesta that you keep throwing good money at,” Pempin said. “You wind up paying more than the car’s worth.”

Possibilities for the mega-campus could include a grades 6-12 building, with grades K-5 moving into the existing high school.

“We’d have a connector between the two schools and practice fields,” Pempin said.

Such a consolidation could bring more money to the district through the eventual sale of other buildings, Pempin said.

The district is looking to save an estimated $2.8 million from changes in curriculum and instruction including expanded use of technology. Another $300,000 could be saved from a proposed one-year salary freeze/consolidation for administrators.

“We want to make sure people realize that when you reinvent schools and make other changes, not all of those changes are going to sit easy with the public,” Pempin said.

The schools hope to greatly reduce, or stave off, a looming $19 million projected deficit by putting all of the planned changes in place, or getting them started.

“We’ll get as lean as we can without compromising academic integrity,” Pempin said. “But if no major changes come in the state funding formula, we’ll have to go back to the public (for money).”

While the district looks to end the 2009-10 school year in the black, failure of a 5.3-mill emergency operating levy in May and a 4.8-mill levy in November have not improved the picture. The district’s last new millage was a 4.9-mill levy passed in 2006. Compounding the picture is the possible loss of more than $1 million in state money.

Contact Steve Fogarty at 329-7146 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com.

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