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Letters to the editor
Something on your mind? Tell us about it! Write a letter to the editor! Submit yours to westside@columbusmessenger.com.
Just say "no"
It is time for all of us to carefully consider the proposed bond issue that will go on the ballot in November.
Once again, the battle cry for the children is ringing loudly in the halls of the schools and meeting rooms of the school board. We are being told that this is a tremendous bargain.
I will not bother to quote what it will cost us. That has been well documented. Once again, however, the district has failed to wake up into our real world, and is basing their wants on unreal abilities of the voters in our district to provide for them. Such is the state of ignorance in the publicly funded world. No need to turn a profit, we get money elsewhere.
In case they have not noticed, gasoline is now between $3.50 and $4 a gallon. This cost is crippling the average American family, not to mention those on fixed incomes. The cost of all consumer goods, including groceries and household necessities, are soaring. Homes are much tougher to finance now, with excellent credit and substantial down payments being required. The stock market has been in what can be termed, at best, a downturn, damaging the long term savings and financial well being of many across the entire country, not just here.
But that’s just fine, they just want more money.
Our children have had their sports and music programs threatened in order to get the kids to come home to us and ask us to vote for issues. We have watched while operating levies that were “absolutely necessary” for schools to continue operation were eaten up by pay raises. I have been to schools in our district where teachers have bought books out of their own pockets because money was not allocated for them.
What does all of this tell us? Think about it. How about giving our children and the district a lesson that has been used to help to prevent drug use/abuse. Our families right now need a chance.
Just say no.
Kevin Boyd
Grove City
Here we go again
Here we go again. The school board claims we have this wonderful opportunity to build our children’s tomorrow by replacing 20 school buildings with new buildings just because the state is willing to provide almost half the cost from the tobacco settlement funds.
However, to get these funds the taxpayers have to vote themselves a hefty tax increase. This is nothing more than blackmail on the part of the state of Ohio. The state wants us to buy from them money that already belongs to the taxpayer. Why not have them release these tobacco settlement funds at no cost to the taxpayer and we can build 10 new schools at no cost to the taxpayer?
The biggest joke is how the school board to trying to sell this program to the taxpayer. They base their projections on “only so much per month on a $100,000 home.”
How many homes in our school district are valued under $100,000? Why not be realistic and base it on a home in the $150,000 range and instead of telling us how much per month our taxes will increase, tell us how much per year they will increase.
In my neighborhood this method works out to almost a 21 percent tax increase. In the flyer they sent out (at taxpayer’s expense) it says “it is fair to classify our bond issue as a reduced millage levy.” They must think the village taxpayer has become the village idiot! It’s thinking like this that has caused the banks and investment companies to need to be bailed out by the taxpayer.
But let’s address the real issue here. Our school board thinks that just because the taxpayers provide beautiful new buildings, the quality of the student’s education will go up. They still have the same ill-conceived mentality that if they have an educational problem they can fix it by shoveling more public dollars on it.
Will new buildings improve our school district’s quality of education enough to move it up on the state’s report card list? Only a fool would believe that bricks and mortar will increase knowledge.
So in this day of ultra high gasoline prices, home foreclosures, sinking 401k retirement plans, increased food and medical cost, rising unemployment and the bailing out of financial institutions, let’s tell the state of Ohio to stop blackmailing us and also tell our school board to wake up by voting “no” on issue 81.
Rob Starrett
Grove City
We are all equal
While reading the Oct. 13 letters to the editor, I came across the one entitled “They aren’t footing the bill, we are.”
The writer proposed that Grove City should have their own school district. I disagree with this and I know many people that would also disagree. The point of a district is to bring all of the different areas together. I’ve lived almost my entire life in Lincoln Village. I’ve always went to schools in the South-Western school district - I was a sophomore at Westland High School when the levy passed in 2005 so I know what it’s like to live right smack dab in the middle of a levy.
My junior and senior years I went to the career academy and very much enjoyed the mixture of students from all of the high schools. We worked well together and really no one cared if you came from Westland, Franklin Heights, Central Crossing, or Grove City. We were all there for a common interest.
Central Crossing High School is a mix of students that come from Westland and Grove City and has come together to be an amazing school. It is sending the wrong message to kids in the district that one area is better than another, when we are all equal.
Kristen Selby
Lincoln Village North Resident
Nothing adds up at SWCS
I bought a condominium in Grove City four years ago and pay almost $2,600 per year in property taxes. On top of that, I pay $170 per month in condo fees to cover many things that other homeowners get with their property taxes. I am essentially paying double tax.
The value of my property has dropped $15,000 (based on comparable sales in my community), but my taxes are locked in for another three years. I cannot fight the assessment.
Now, South-Western City Schools tell me they have a deal I shouldn’t pass up - to raise my taxes another $50 per month.
I want to know why it costs twice as much per square foot to build a school than a luxury hotel? Why does it cost more to maintain schools than hotels? Why are district employees driving around on work time doing private business in district vehicles? Why do the school buses park along the side of the road, with engines running, for as long as 40 minutes?
I want to know why no one dares audit where certain maintenance equipment and supplies go? Why do so many cronies seem to get on the payroll and do little, if anything, to earn their keep?
If the state has $200 million to give us, let them give it to us. It’s our money. We could easily solve our building problems with that and still have money left over. It’s our money.
With all the new building and development, we ought to be taking in plenty of money to educate our children. If not, then it’s time to stop issuing building permits.
Nothing adds up at SWCS, but there seems to be a well funded machine to promote their latest campaign of greed.
Richard Manuel
Grove City
Reach and grab that brass ring
As a concerned parent in the SWCS district, I’m compelled to express my support for Issue 81. My fear is that other parents and community members don’t realize what an important opportunity this is for us.
We did not ask for the timing on this money from the Tobacco Settlement Fund, but as far as I’m concerned, it couldn’t have come at a better time. This proposal, if passed, will be a huge shot in the arm for all schools in our district. We may never get another chance to have half of our costs paid to renovate and update technology in every school.
If you have not been in Franklin Heights or Westland lately, you would be surprised at how run down these buildings have become. Costs will always rise, so it will never be less expensive to replace inadequate buildings while reducing our maintenance costs at the same time. The bonus is we will have improved safety and security and elimination of all portable trailers. Those children lucky enough to be in one of our newer intermediate buildings know what an advantage a new building can be. The simple things like, space for students, all-day kindergarten, air-conditioning (which many of our children, like my son and daughter, with asthma and allergies would truly benefit).
We will also save costs by going green in these buildings from water reducing fixtures to using architecture in providing more sunlight as apposed to mostly artificial light we use now. Think of the jobs that will be created to boost our Westside economy. And seniors that applied for the Homestead Exemption will not be paying more, even with the passage. All we have to do is reach out and grab that brass ring.
Suzie Smith-Rios
Lincoln Village South
CCS officials need to be held accountable
I must speak my mind on Issue 75. I will be voting “no” on this issue for many reasons and none of them have to do with keeping Columbus children from an education. It has everything to do with holding officials, elected and otherwise, accountable. How can we budget money for our own homes within our spending abilities while our officials keep spending our money without abandon?
Lets go over the facts everyone knows but might have forgotten. There is missing equipment in the district. What has happened to the investigation to recover said items? There were pay raises that went out. Granted, there was a four-year hiatus but how can we justify a big raise when the average income in the district has been so stagnant for several years?
These people need to be held accountable. Lets have Dr. Harris and everyone on the school board sign a contract with the voting public to list what is needed in the district and what those projected costs would be. Lets have the members of the state legislature sign a contract to fix the situation on a state level. We the public should be tired of being told we need more money and there is no accountability attached to it.
Then the Ohio Lottery Commission needs to go under the same scrutiny. How many employees are there? What are the pay scales for those employees? How much goes out in winnings, how much rolls over to keep the lottery going and how much annually is actually given to the schools. If I remember correctly, the lottery was started to alleviate inadequate funding for schools. I’m tired, real tired, of being asked or directed for more of my money with no one being held accountable on the receiving end. I am urging a “no” vote on 75.
David Ringlien
Westgate
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