Levies

Some one brought up money from casinos.I think people are reluctant to vote them in for Ohio becouse the lottery is doing such a good job :lmao:
But on a serious note I have seen the schools in Ind. where the boats are and they look like they are lacking nothing.Ohio needs to reform the lottery and get more revenue for the schools (while it wont totaly fix everything)and once they get the lottery on the right track then bring in the casinos (which I am for)
Keep Ohio money in Ohio but its got to go where they say it will.

ToledoT, is that really all they do to fund schools in Indiana? I'll bet (chuckle, chuckle) they have other funding mechanisms in place to pay for schools. I'd take a look at any state's funding formula if it works.

I will tell you in Washington County where we have one of the new casinos the money has done a lot to help offset people's property taxes, fund community infrastructure projects, boost economic development and generally give an influx of money to a lot of small communities that couldn't otherwise get funding for projects (including police). We keep waiting for the other shoe to drop but so far if there is a lot of individual economic ruin, gambling addiction, drugs/prostitution., crime...all the things that people worry will increase with the casino - we aren't hearing about it.

I wonder if the people who won't vote for a school levy aren't the same ones more than willing to take a day trip to the Argosy. Just curious about how many people that would apply to. The people that voted down the South-Western school levy said that they couldn't afford it with the economy the way it is. Are people really going to lose their house with a $22 a month increase on their property taxes? People say they can't afford it; I think they just don't want to support the schools. If the levy did pass, they would do everything humanly possible to not lose their house. There are hundreds of ways to cut back to save what would be the equivalent 73 cents a day. That's less than a double cheeseburger from the dollar menu at McDonalds. Do people really believe that their property tax will never increase or if they move they won't have to pay property tax somewhere else?

People are being penny wise and pound foolish. Save a few dollars on property tax to see the value of your home decrease. Good luck selling your home to potential home buyers who have children in the public schools. Potential Home Buyer: Do I buy a house in Hilliard or Grove City? I think I'll be buying a house in Hilliard where they have busing and sports as well as a quality education.

Northwest Local Schools in the Akron/Canton area had their levy fail yesterday. We are finishing out our 2 year contract with our league, but then they will not offer high school sports after that. It is too bad...sports, music programs, and the other extracirricular activities tend to keep kids busy and out of trouble. That is alot of spare time for the kids to fill.

West Clermont passed their substitution levy.

Len

Our home values just went up with no effort on our part. We feel everyone's pain as we went through 4/5 levies before it passed last year. We will be back at it again in two more years I am sure and my kids will be done, but we will support it again!

I bet some like Southwestern get one more shot in August, but it will cost $$$ just to put it to a ballot. Those kids are too good not to be playing school sports or other activities. If they are doing those, they are out of trouble...

fourts said:

You can drop ALL the money you want in a broken system, but till you fix the system it is still broke. I would support ANY levy if the system that doesn't work is fixed FIRST. How many levy have you seen past to have nothing changed?

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Agreed. Until something is done, school districts will continue to put levies on the ballot. It is really their only realistic means of generating new revenue. The system will not be fixed for awhile. I believe 8 years or so ago, school district funding in Ohio was declared unconstitutional. Yet it remains in place.

While lottery funds are earmarked for the schools, it is not additional revenue for the schools. Lottery money goes in, other money previously allocated to the schools goes elsewhere. They don't mention that part in all their TV ads pleading with people to play the lottery.

It is no secret that although school districts have a lot of tangible property (buildings, busses, etc.), the overwhelming expense (85% or so) is salary and benefits for the employees. In today's times, it is very difficult for some families to make the sacrifice to pass a levy so people probably making more than they are with excellent benefits can keep their status quo.

Sports and other extra-curriculars, along with bussing, are always on the cut list because they do not directly relate to education. However, they are very important to the community and the threat to drop them if the levy fails generates far greater sympathy than the threat to cut a handful of teachers and administrators.

Non-revenue sports do have a cost to the district so it is hard to argue that, strictly in cost-saving terms, they shouldn't be cut in times of financial difficulty. But non-revenue sports are only a small piece of the financial deficits facing school districts today. I would rather see qualified volunteer coaches (no problem for any community) and car-pooling (not ideal, but only for high school softball are parents not responsible for getting their kids there) before seeing the programs cut altogether. Let booster clubs take care of the uniforms, umpires, etc. and the district can cut one administrator to cover all the rest for all the non-revenue sports.

georges2ndgenera said:

I wonder if the senior citizens who won't vote for a school levy aren't the same ones more than willing to take a day trip to the Argosy. Just curious about how many people that would apply to. The people that voted down the South-Western school levy said that they couldn't afford it with the economy the way it is. Are people really going to lose their house with a $22 a month increase on their property taxes? People say they can't afford it; I think they just don't want to support the schools. If the levy did pass, they would do everything humanly possible to not lose their house. There are hundreds of ways to cut back to save what would be the equivalent 73 cents a day. That's less than a double cheeseburger from the dollar menu at McDonalds. Do people really believe that their property tax will never increase or if they move they won't have to pay property tax somewhere else?

People are being penny wise and pound foolish. Save a few dollars on property tax to see the value of your home decrease. Good luck selling your home to potential home buyers who have children in the public schools. Potential Home Buyer: Do I buy a house in Hilliard or Grove City? I think I'll be buying a house in Hilliard where they have busing and sports as well as a quality education.

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73 cents a day added to the existing total of $5.50 per day is the problem. That would equate to about $186 a month. Now my mother in law gets $660 a month for retirement (she is a widow). That leave around $475 for utilities, food, medicine, etc. Her medicine alone costs her $200 a month. Now we are dowt to $275 for utilities and food. After the utilities are paid, the rest is for food, gasoline, etc. The 73 cents a day or $22 a month would be greatly missed. If we did not shop for food for her to help her out, she would literally starve.

Argosy? Hardly. Don't lay the blame on the senior citizens. They are the ones that worked all their lives to support better schools during their day than what we have today. The blame lies somewhere else.

Johnnies you're right. I'll amend my post. It's people, not just senior citizens. I do feel for the senior citizens on a limited income. Something needs to be done about a healthcare system where senior citizens have to pay more than $200 a month for medications. The free enterprise system at work. A couple a years ago, the board tried to address the problem of people living on a fixed income with a income (or sales) tax instead of property tax, but that failed more miserably than the levies before and after it. People are going to vote for the things that are important to them. I can see why senior citizens would vote a tax levy down, but there a lot of people without children in the school district who will vote it down also because they don't want pay more in property taxes, whether they can afford it or not. People need to realize that rising fuel costs hit the schools hard too. Just curious, does anybody know how schools are spending their money and what is it that people consider so wasteful? Just trying to become more educated on where people think schools should be cutting and where is the waste? How is the system broken? Don't flame me, just trying to gather some opinions.

Don't worry change is coming. I heard that the new guy we elected will be sending checks soon, and making our mortgage and car payments too. So just hang in there everything will be OK soon.

georges2ndgenera said:

Just curious, does anybody know how schools are spending their money and what is it that people consider so wasteful? Just trying to become more educated on where people think schools should be cutting and where is the waste? How is the system broken? Don't flame me, just trying to gather some opinions.

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Here is what I'm talking aboutDT STATEWIDE -- In the most complete international study of schooling ever conducted, U.S. high school seniors ranked near the bottom in math and science, reflecting what educators call a crisis in American education. U.S. educators said the study points out the critical need for stronger graduation standards and much improved teacher education. One of the more ominous findings in the latest study is that even the American students taking advanced courses could not measure up to students from other nations. In math, they ranked 15th out of 16 nations. In physics, U.S. seniors ranked dead last.

In general math and science, American seniors ranked near the bottom among 21 nations.

Schools need to get back to educating our children and get the politics out!

I teach in Southwest and let me tell you I am pretty sure there is no bluffing there. I fell bad for all the students in our district, not just for sports put the many other cuts they are starting.

As a former educator, here is my opinion on why we are suffering in world wide standards and the fault lies in a number of places:

1. The recent focus on the required "tests" to graduate shifted the curriculum into a narrow focus in attempt to pass those tests. Teachers were evaluated based on the number of students that passed. The teachers, and the school systems narrowed their focus to achieve that goal. The results were and ARE still a disaster. They were teaching the students the "anwers" instead of developing the knowledge that would allow them to learn the who, what, when, where and why in each field of study so they could learn the answers on their own.

2. Students are not taught how to study. They are not taught how to think, reason or research - at school and especially AT HOME.

3. The expectation levels have been dropped. Instead of raising the bar to challenge them, it was lowered to appease those who decried the fact that poor Johnny or Mary was not able to do the work. The Theory of Expectation can use the United States as a prime example of how the theory works.

4. Reading levels have declined over the last 4 decades. This can be blamed on the advent of TV, Video Games, etc. etc. Children simply do not read like the did several decades ago. Reading = learning. Reading stimulates the mind and develops a thirst for knowledge. The families of these children simply do not encourage their children to read. It is easier to relent and avoid an argument. The TV or Video Games became the peacemaker in many families.

5. Technology is growing at a pace unseen in history. This country and it's education system are very slow to bring the new knowledge into the schools. There are future jobs in the near future that don't exist today. How can we prepare them if we do not bring this new knowledge into the schools?

6. I touched on this in previous statement. The Family. The first 5 years of a child life is the most important time for learning. The families today spend so much time at work and so little time at working with their children. The one reason the other nations have a lead is that fact that the family structure is set up to challenge their children to learn so they can have a better life. They set higher expectation for their children and teach them to set high expectations for themselves, which translates in higher academic achievement. They motivate their children and teach them to motivate themselves. This is sorely lacking in this country today.

OK, soapbox is open now...

Johnnies, could agree more. You can go to all the school meetings you want and complain till your blue, but the only way you get anyones attention is with money. It is a shame that the kids have to suffer because of some adults blindness to the true problem.