Voters in the Bowling Green City Schools school district face an important choice between now and November 5th. That choice will impact the city and surrounding Wood County in many ways, including employment opportunities, property values, the quality of life, and, yes, taxes. The existing elementary schools are worn out – ask to see a photo of the Conneaut boiler room – and beyond economic repair.
They are, however quite effective at minimizing overcrowding – by sending house-hunting families elsewhere to look. What’s the solution?
We both attended “neighborhood” elementary schools; we even walked home for lunch. Those days are gone forever; mothers were at home and day care centers didn’t exist – grandmas and aunts served that function when necessary. Neither did we have to worry about “lock-downs” to avoid “active shooters.” Rather, we practiced “duck-and-cover” to protect ourselves from the effects of an atomic bomb blast.
Times have changed, and the educational benefits of a consolidated campus and consolidated elementaries have been thoroughly proven, including at
nearby districts such as Defiance, Genoa, and Otsego. Happily, the consolidated elementary solution also accrues economic benefits such as a single cafeteria, a single nurse’s station, a single auditorium, and so on. So you can’t have both the lowest net cost at the same time that you preserve the current buildings – that ship sailed years ago when the buildings were allowed to depreciate to their current state of repair.
Now the question becomes “How best to pay for a consolidated elementary school?”
While the Finance Task Force apparently didn’t consider the option of assigning the treasurer to buy a weekly lottery ticket, they did analyze all reasonable alternatives, and the alternative they recommended that was adopted spreads the pain as equitably as possible. Using an income tax (which excludes Social Security payments) for 50% of the funds minimizes the impact on property owners while using a property tax for the other 50% minimizes the impact on wage earners. And costs will only increase if we wait – doing nothing is not a viable alternative.
Please vote “yes” for the levy, and please vote for three of the four school board candidates (Jill Carr, Tracy Hovest, Ryan Meyers, Ginny Stewart)
who will carry out the intent of the levy – making Bowling Green City Schools’ elementary school facilities something to be proud of again.
George & Susan Winters
Bowling Green
