Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

The Answer Must Come From Us

Whatever the answer to our school overcrowding is, I think that it must come from us voters, not from the PLSD administration, and not from the school board. We must find some way to come together, to discuss the alternatives, and to devise some course of action that a majority of us can support at the polls.

I think that we must do this on our own. These are our schools. We must take ownership of them. We can no longer ask the school board to guess what we might be willing to support. We must tell them. This has to come from the grass roots, with no prompting from above, to be credible.

How do we go about this? Does anyone have any suggestions?

Brick and Mortar Schools

I was educated in a brick and mortar school, and I'll bet most of the posters here were educated in an actual school also. I don't like the trailers, and can't imagine they are the safest, most cost-effective way to educate our kids.

I think a better way would be to go to split sessions. Kids could be in a classroom, which is important, with their friends and activities. Split sessions would represent some stability in their academic lives.

I just can't believe it's come down to this.

Just because the adults can't get along and agree on what's best for the kids is no reason to keep turning the kids' lives upside down and make them attend new schools every year. Maybe, for once, we could think about what would be best for the kids. Maybe we could even ask them. Let's give all the teachers this web address so we can hear it directly from the kids.

Would we even listen, or would we tell them they can have a say when they start paying the bills?

Homeschooling is looking pretty darn good right about now!

Not Quite

Jim, I think you may be confusing required debt service with millage.

The North/Lakeview project was financed with the issuance of an assortment of bonds. These bonds have required payments, just like a home mortgage loan. However, those payments are structured to that the aggregate payment of principal and interest due will roughly double between the first year and, as I recall, year 8, 9 or 10.

We must pay the amount due each year, and the County Auditor is required, each year, to set that year's millage at the level required to collect enough to cover that year's payments (plus, in some cases, a small cushion).

The only way that millage will not increase during these initial years, therefore, is if the tax base roughly doubles over these years. My primary concern, however, is that the millage is very unlikely to decrease, even though our housing needs certainly will increase. This will make the additional schools we need more difficult for taxpayers to afford.

I have not been able to bring up the County Auditor's FAQ publication on my home computer, to check what the millage was for the current tax year. I will try to do so at work today.

My concern, however, is not with past mistakes, but with learning from the past as we address the future. We clearly have a classroom shortage in this school district in grades K-4. We must address that shortage, one way or another.

My point is, let's do it right this time. If I am hearing you right, Jim, I think that is your concern too.

I agree, but . . .

I agree with much of what's been said so far. The school board, whether they were personally involved and/or responsible, could earn a vote of confidence by publicly admitting that money could have been spent more wisely at North/Lakeview. I think this has been said by them before, but maybe not collectively and without any denials attached. Hopefully, then we, as a community, can move on. I also agree that feedback would be invaluable to the BOE and the administration. Why are people voting no and what kind of levy would voters support? Obviously, the PEA didn't support the concept of large elementaries/middle schools (by virtue of additions), and the community didn't pass the 2 subsequent issues of 2 smaller elementaries. HOWEVER, even with a ''public apology'' and a bond issue that incorporates more voter feedback, there will still be those among us that will vote no until the two high schools are made ''equal.'' Even if this district had the millions to improve athletic facilities at Central, I'd rather see the money used to build new elementaries. I still think Central is an impressive school and not at all antiquated. Perhaps the athletic facilities are not equal to North, but academically, I have no concerns. But, how many no voters will continue to vote no based on the athletic facilities at Central?