For those who are still on the fence on whether to vote For or Against the Bowling Green City Schools bond issue, I invite you to consider the following information when making your final decision. I have been a resident of Bowling Green since 1994 and my children both attended BGCS. Like many reading this, I give thought and consideration to each request put forward before casting my vote and do not blindly support ballot issues.
I truly believe that while our city is a good place to live, work and enjoy, we are missing out on an opportunity to capitalize on an invitation to make it even better if we do not support the current ballot issue. Thanks to the hard work of our city and county officials, we have several significant business developments coming to our area. Those who will relocate for employment will have a decision to make with regard to where they live, not to mention those who are able to secure higher paying employment and may be looking to move into permanent housing. Given the recent levy failures and obvious physical building deficiencies, when will we realize that this pattern does not attract new families or quality educators to BG? Whether we like it or not, school construction rarely gets less expensive and we need to move out of the past and into the future by supporting this issue. In doing so we will be part of creating educational facilities for our students that match the time, energy, and effort of our educators. Passage of this issue will help attract families and add to the customer base for small businesses and local restaurants in addition to helping fund our city services through income taxes. Passing this bond issue will allow for the construction of new learning spaces capable of supporting the needs of today’s students, including all students being able to fully access all learning spaces, something that today’s high school does not offer.
As you may know, there is misinformation being spread containing “what if” scenarios and speculation about future construction, operating costs, tax estimates, and a litany of other topics designed to create doubt in the minds of voters. As a former school superintendent, I would encourage our community to stay with the facts. Call the Wood County Auditor’s office and do not get lost in hypotheticals, most of which appear to be based on a mix of a lack of understanding about basic school finance, bond finance options in the Ohio Revised Code and/or the manner in which property taxes are calculated. While we all wish school finance was more straightforward, let’s be sure to question and listen to the experts.
Given the current plan being presented this November, I am excited about the future of our community, including our schools. I hope you join me in being part of the reason our community will thrive by voting for this ballot issue.
Todd Cramer
(Cramer serves as a teaching professor in the College of Education and Human Development at Bowling Green State University. The opinions expressed here reflect his personal opinion and should not be considered an official position for the college or university.)
