Having persuaded its employees to give up $1.4 million in pay and having cut spending by a further $5 million for the upcoming school year, the Sylvania Board of Education now has six weeks to persuade district voters to change their minds about a tax levy they rejected in November.

A 4.9-mill property tax the school board decided last month to resubmit to voters May 3 would generate $7.1 million annually if approved. That would include about $3 million during 2011-12 school year's second semester.

The board says that without that revenue, it will have to make cuts even deeper than those it approved last week, which include eliminating the full-time equivalent of 75 teaching and support jobs.

Some of those reductions are to be accomplished through a retirement-incentive offer. More than 50 teachers, administrators, and support staff will retire when the school year ends, but some of those positions cannot be left vacant, officials have said. So the net number of layoffs will depend on how readily other employees can be transferred to fill needed jobs.

School board President Vicki Donovan-Lyle said she hopes the spending cuts, labor concessions, and pending reductions in state aid will persuade local voters to support the levy this time.

"We have done the streamlining. We have listened to the community," she said.

At Sylvania City Council on Monday night, Dave DiManna, a co-chairman of the levy campaign committee, said: "The economy has changed. People's ability to pay has changed." But maintaining the local schools' "excellent" rating is vital to the quality of life in Sylvania, he said.

City council unanimously endorsed the levy. "There is no doubt that one of the reasons people come to our community is our excellent schools," councilman Doug Haynam said.

The levy campaign is to start at 5 p.m. tomorrow with a Community Celebration of the Schools at Northview High School -- either in Cats Stadium or, in the event of rain or snow, in the high school gym.

Sylvania's two high school marching bands, cheerleaders, and dancers will perform, and district spokesman Nancy Crandell said all Sylvania schools will be "celebrated."

Principals, parents, and students from each school, plus Mr. DiManna and campaign co-chairmen Gail Mirrow, and Deb Jennings are to speak. The levy campaign has set a $20,000 fund-raising goal and that effort has begun, Ms. Crandell said.

First Published March 23, 2011, 4:15 a.m.