Dear BGCS Community,
As a father with small children and a resident in the Bowling Green City Schools district, I’m writing to urge our community to support the upcoming five-year operating levy. Some say “if the levy doesn’t pass, life will go on.” Yes, it will—but it will be a diminished life for our entire community.
I’ve witnessed firsthand what happens when school funding fails. While living in the South-Western City School District, near Columbus, I watched an operating levy failure devastate the community. Programs vanished overnight. Talented educators lost their jobs. Student-athletes who had played since childhood suddenly had no teams. The marching band fell silent.
The consequences extended far beyond the classroom. Families moved away. Others chose not to move in. Students with scholarship potential transferred to districts that could support their talents. South-Western made Sports Illustrated—but for the wrong reasons. The damage took years to repair, and ironically, after experiencing the painful consequences, the community eventually passed the levy anyway.
Operating levies aren’t funding “shiny new toys”—they provide essential resources for daily operations and maintaining quality education. The potential cuts facing our district aren’t theoretical; they’ve been clearly outlined. Jobs and programs that directly impact our children hang in the balance.
Do we want the Friday night football games that bring our community together? Do we want our marching band performing at halftime? Do we want our children to experience the complete education they deserve? Or are we willing to accept the diminished community that results when schools struggle?
I don’t want Bowling Green and the BGCS community to learn these painful lessons the hard way. I encourage voters to research “South-Western City School District levy Sports Illustrated” to see what happens when communities fail to support their schools.
The health of our schools reflects the health of our community. When we vote on this levy, we’re voting on Bowling Green’s future—and which direction we want that vote to count is entirely up to us.
Sincerely,
Mark Denny
