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Hey Katelyn
Since you are a reader of this iste, can I ask that just once in a while you interview and get quotes from someone OTHER than Lisa Reade? Sheeesh! I am so sick of hearing her yap running. She counts quotes more closely that even Riggs used to.
Also, not that it's important to you in this context, didn't a former councilman also sponsor a resolution of support of HB 299?
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Three step program
Why do local voters not support their schools?
Above is the question I think we all must answer not only to ourselves but to the state legislature. The Pickerington Bond levy has been packaged in various ways over the last few years but each time it has failed. Maybe it is basically a question of our representation and the controlling who spends our tax money.
A few years ago there was a pie chart circulated around that indicated that 33% of the students in the PLSD came from the City, 20% came from Columbus/others and 47% came from Violet Township. As far back as I can remember all of the board members have lived in the township (a minority of the students live there). I know for a fact that during the decision making going on about the North High School all members of the school board lived in the unincorporated areas of the school district township. I know there have been City residents run for school board but I am not aware of any getting elected. I also know the current school board would like to deny that a split exists within PLSD over the decision to spend the money for North and its location but I believe there is still a split in attitudes and feelings in the district. Clearly there is a culturally difference between the City and the Township and their wants and desires are different.
Didn?’t the Boston Tea Party start the American revolution and the issue of taxation without representation? The very same concept exist here in Pickerington in our school district.
My solutions and this would need General Assembly approval:
1. Start the process to re-align school boundaries with the local authority that controls land use decisions. In our case allow the creation of a Pickerington City School System. I would give this process 15 years to be completed. This would allow those children currently in school to finish before their district changes (if affected). This would also give the land use governments time to adjust to the new boundaries.
Reason: this gives the voters and taxpayer a clear straight line to their elected representatives and direct control over their tax dollars.
2. Quality of education: Currently the state has tried in vain to raise the levels of education here in Ohio. They for years have worked on proficiency tests that all seem to be forcing the state school districts to teach the test. I believe I did see recently where the Ohio test scores did come up a little but it has cost a ton of money to get there. I believe that huge bureaucracies never are the solution to good education. The current system only encourages more bureaucrats and less money making it way to the students.
Currently the PLSD has a state number of 2307 for tax purposes. Lets set up a set of list qualifiers like attendances, an approved state aptitudes test at two or three levels, Graduation rate, and local funding levels. I believe the state level for school funding is 23 mills. If we created voting direct lines to the local school boards as suggested above and had the option of passing our operating millage as inside or outside millage and if we raised our local millage and it reached a certain level say 40 mills the school district state income Tax payers in our district would get to deduct different levels of off of their State income tax bill. Example lets PLSD had over 95% attendance, They had test score in the 90% or higher, They had a 90% or higher graduation rate, the locals supported 40 mills of property (extra points for inside millage) and in exchange when you indicated on your state income your school district that enabled you to a 20% deduction. Wouldn?’t it be in the best interests of the entire school district (including, singles, empty nesters and retired folks) to then be proficient? Control land use and growth? And demand a quality education for THEIR kids?
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Plan Continued
The state could still support and subsidize the poorer districts around the state. This would also encourage the state to support and develop those areas around our state with development and jobs instead of building highways to work in Columbus. If Lancaster and Logan were flush with jobs would we need to be spending all of this money to upgrade US 33?
Part of the problem we have here in the State is the State. When we send our tax dollars to Columbus they remove their cut and then send some of it to poorer areas and we get some back with all of these strings attached to force us all to spend more money than we have. Those strings or mandates have been coming for years and I know there are those that need special help in our schools. I think the state needs to review and eliminate many of the current mandates. Allow local districts to find their own solutions to their own communities and their educational needs.
3. We currently fund about 50% of our school operating and bond issues with local property taxes and local income taxes. When a person moves into a school district they are required to pay their income taxes current at full value. For some reason we allow the property tax collection to lag up to two years. I know this suggestion will fall on deaf ears but on new homes the new owner only pays the tax on the value of the lot for those first two years while they could very well be sending their children to the local schools. It is interesting to note that when we sell our existing home we must bring our taxes current at closing and credit the buyer with the arrears amount. Why couldn?’t we simply credit that money to the county and then the schools? On new homes they know the contract price of the new home make that the value at the auditor's office on the day of closing? That would leave the remaining existing home owners and we could set up special assessments to allow the existing property owners twenty years to get their taxes caught up. Most people sell every 7 years.
I know other states that you must pay your 2006 property tax bill by December 31st 2006. It is billed in September of 2006.
With these three steps the local voters would have a choice in their local government and how it affects their tax load. They would have control and live the American Dream. If the MAJORITY of them wanted to build a Tal Mahal High School then they would all need to pay for it. New builds would bring money in quicker to the schools and all could decide the rate of growth for the schools and the district. Getting tax breaks from the state would keep the money local.
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Poll results
Funny - this poll is something like the survey the schools put on their website. You can keep voting and voting and voting.....
My kid is due some punishment today for some misdeeds yesterday. Perhaps I will have him sit down and vote in the poll for a couple of hours.
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