Here we come to the final days before voting day and we continue to have a BOE who has not listened to the voters twice already as we head into a third round of taxation for one Mega School and I have to ask you why?
A mailer went out with some spelling errors and one1 MEGA went crazy alluding that everything in that flyer should be discredited. I found spelling errors in information for one Mega and it’s publicly posted on my personal Facebook page. Who cares, right? What bothers me is the statement “if funds are sufficient” so Y’ll asking for $20 million in levy and collecting $20 million in income tax (that’s $40 mil) plus $3M from Pipeline.
This is not common core math guys, your numbers don’t add up!
Did you know that in Spring 2020 we have, I believe, THREE operations levy renewals coming…
Do you know that we built the 6th grade wing with Permanent Improvement money, that is money the school is supposed to use to upkeep and maintain our buildings. Instead of upkeep they neglected them and then push 1MEGA as a way to solve all our problems.
I sat on BOTH facilities and financial tasks force and the slides are on the Web- New Kenwood/Conneaut, fix Crim.
Did you know that when touring all the schools in the district on the task force, the building sup and maintenance man told us the buildings are completely sound? The foundation, the structure … nothing wrong with them. They were built to last and they are doing just that. I agree they need updating and some remodeling but they are not falling apart like 1MEGA wants you to think.
Did you know that BG is currently in debt to the tune of $23M, and we want to take on another $40M… with extra $6M that no one can account for it’s use AND not doing anything with the HS.
Let’s Talk about Income.
-BG Median housing cost is $164,700 (ACS 2017) and it was $154,200 (ACS 2015) which has went UP in two years. (Levy flyer used $100k and the “threat” of property values decreasing based on little info.) Although, it will be likely that the housing around the neighborhoods will decrease in value. While being in a quality school district 20% of home buyers listed proximity to school as a deciding factor in their home purchase. (Schools and the homebuying decision-http://www.nar.realtor/schools-the-homebuying-decision)
-If you are a renter, please ask your landlord how much your rent will go up and do not forget if you work, your income will be taxed also.
-If you are a homeowner, please figure out what your property taxes will be. Go to the Wood County Auditor website or call them, they really want everyone in town to call on Monday or Tuesday before they vote and have their new tax amount calculated, I promise. … AND THEN, 1/4 % tax on your income. Oh wait, are you married, partner, roommate? Y’ll are both going to be paying that income tax, pending you both work, AND that property tax. Hey kids, welcome to the adult world with your first job, taxes, taxes and more…TAXES!
-Did you know that BG poverty rate is 33.9%, meaning 1 in 3 live in poverty in BG (www.welfareinfo.org/poverty-rate/ohio/bowling-green). The state poverty rate is 14.9%(ACS 2017) Yes we are a college town but we are also a county seat, with many county services, so we tend to attract lower income households who need services close by and do not have a vehicle. Think we don’t have any homeless in BG? Talk to any County service here or food pantry, etc and you will see the need and come back a second time to see that need continue to grow. You can say that this levy will mean you sacrifice a cup of McDonald’s coffee a day but there are so many of us who can’t afford that, so many of us that keep a strict budget to keep food on the table and then still struggle.
-Neighborhood Schools.
That doesn’t mean every kid can walk or bike to school but it does mean “smaller” and it does feel like a “neighborhood” or community with pride and caring about each student.
For those of you who didn’t attend the talk at Grounds about how smaller schools are better, the video is on my page, and I’ll summarize. Smaller schools have less drop outs. Smaller schools have less kids that fall through the cracks because it’s easier to monitor/keep an eye on/follow 500 kids vs 1500 kids. Less Violence. Here’s another good point, LESS BULLYING. Not in our town right? I mean, this Levy has divided this town, those who oppose it have been told we don’t care about our kids as a way to bully us into voting yes.
-BG community “seems” to care about the environment yet kids are not encouraged and the culture’s not created to make it cool or fun to work together to get kids to school this way. Instead, we may have hundreds of cars in line an hour earlier, line along Fairview and Van Camp with all kinds of emissions waiting to pick up their kids, are these roads made for that kind of traffic? Or bus after bus lined up with a sea of yellow in one spot. Hey BG Estates, Fairview, North Grove Townhouses…. can you just smell that diesel? Your neighborhood is crowded from 2:15p-2:45pm right now with, 1MEGA your street will be crazy from 2pm-4pm.
-1MEGA is going where the Agriculture lab is, sorry FFA this is what the BOE wants, this is what your teachers want.
Safe Routes to School.
We had this campaign come to BG two years ago and WANT TO GIVE US MONEY and the super wouldn’t meet with her. I did, she was cool! Like here is a lady, representing a company, who wants to GIVE US FREE MONEY to update/fix/improve sidewalks to promote walking and biking. Our sidewalks are used by EVERYONE in town and would benefit from this. But of course, it meant keeping smaller schools and since that’s not in the BOE/super agenda, THEY turned down free money but have their hand out to the tax payers.
Operating Costs.
Remember, we have THREE Levys due Spring 2020 and you can expect more.
Why? 3(elementary)-3=1MEGA. One is less then 3 so it should be cheaper, right? Wrong. On paper that looks reasonable, however research says smaller schools are cheaper and many intangible benefits cannot be adequately factored with that cost (www.ruraledu.ord/user_uploads/file/Dollars_and_sense.pdf)
Remember, there is literally an “if” the way the levy request is written(” if fund are sufficient…) which makes it seem like very little work and detail was done with this way of money being spent. We don’t even know how big this school will be and how many kids. 1500 was originally quoted, which would be the largest k-5 brick and mortar elementary. The average elementary school size in Ohio is 459, we would really be breaking the mold with the new MEGA SCHOOL. Bigger is not always better and if we are going to be a guinea pig to tell the state, what not to do… can it not be done with my tax dollars. (www.publicschoolreview.com/school-size-stats/ohio/elementary)
Safety
-HS,MS, Kenwood and Crim have locked doors and you have to ring a bell to be buzzed in, I think Conneaut as well, and I think their’s could be better. We just received a grant to improve safety in our schools. I cannot believe that the chief of police said he endorses the 1MEGA. Let me tell you why.
You put every single child in our school district in one area. ONE. I hope and pray every day we never have a school shooting, God forbid we do, the offender has ONE LOCATION, ONE CAMPUS and it makes EVERY KID a target. As a Kenwood parent, I remember when Kenwood had a precautionary lock down because something was going on at VFW. Most of us were like, cool, thanks for keeping the kids safe. Crim, Conneaut MS and HS parents had nothing to worry about ….. Now, we build 1MEGA school and one of the factories catches on fire, like it does a least 1-2 times a fall and the wind is blowing like it does in BG and now we have to worry about evacuating 1MEGA 1500 elementary, plus MS, plus HS. You say it can’t happen, I worked Trauma, I’ve seen what panic does to people. Anyone see the live video at the Woodward HS football game where there was a shooting in October? Clay had an evacuation for a gun at their football game THIS SEASON.
THESE things are REAL.
BGPD thinks that is safe?!?! One location that targets everyone?
Need more proof then, what if’s…. Save out Schools Facebook page lists all kinds of studies about safety.
Academics
-I get a chuckle out of this. BG was once compared to Otsego. Did our Super/BOE talk to OHS BOE? No but I did. Many conversations and meetings about the benefits of 1 school. They had 3 buildings literally falling apart (like our old jr high) and the one way they could get state money was for 1 building, they didn’t have a choice.
They also had approx 55% of their costs came from state money and the other 45% was … $$ they already had. They did NOT have to ask for the tax payers for new money.
Defiance, have you seen their ODE report card? I posted it on my personal FB page. The have a C average for the district but they are failing with D and F with most including Progress.
Let’s look at schools with neighborhood schools and look at their ratings. Places like Findlay, AW, Perrysburg, Oregon/Clay… B’s and C’s… not D’s or F’s
IF we have great teachers, then they teach, modify and adapt to their surroundings. That’s like my kids telling me they can only do their homework on MacBook Surface Laptop vs a Google Chromebook. Not buying it.
Thanks for hanging in there. It was a lot of information. I probably have 1-2 spelling errors in this but my facts are facts. My research is solid. My past experiences cannot be questioned. My goal was give you information to make a informed vote.
Vicki Venn
Bowling Green
