this is an email from Chad – he sent this out to different district leadership folks – like union leaders, PTA leadership – etc…he gave me permission to share this – I echo his sentiment.<\/p>\n
“All,<\/p>\n
I am emailing all of you, our school system\u2019s supporting organizations, booster clubs, unions and parents groups, to directly ask you to please endorse the next levy that is put on the ballot and to please encourage your membership to volunteer and participate in the levy campaign.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n By now, I am sure you are all well aware that the levy attempt on November 5 failed by a margin of about 44% to 56%.\u00a0 While this is a significant step in the right direction as compared to the March levy failure, it is still a failure all the same.\u00a0 Our school district will now clearly be facing difficulties as we move into the 2025-26 school year. As of now, the Board of Education has not yet met to discuss the levy failure and any plans moving forward.\u00a0 However, I am sure this is a discussion we will be having over the next few months and it will only be a matter of time before a levy is placed on the ballot again. Changes will be coming. I just cannot say what they will be or how deep they will be.\u00a0 The Board and the Administration will be looking into this.<\/em><\/p>\n The way I see it, we are facing two every large hurdles-<\/em><\/p>\n Most of your organization probably have bylaws that say you are \u201cnonpartisan\u201d organizations.\u00a0 I completely agree with that and understand.\u00a0 But, schools and school levies are a nonpartisan issue,\u00a0no different than levies for the library\u00a0or the county developmental disabilities board: we are all neutral entities. It is a very different concept to be\u00a0nonpartisan versus apolitical<\/b><\/strong>. \u00a0I am not asking you to support a candidate or a political party. I am asking you to support our schools, our community and our children. People move into this area and stay here because of our schools. I don\u2019t want to see that fall apart.<\/em><\/p>\n The school\u00a0district is constantly striving to find efficiencies and cost savings.\u00a0 However, I think all-in-all, we do very good with the community\u2019s money, are transparent with what\u2019s going on, and stretch our levy dollars as far as possible.\u00a0 Our 5-year forecast from May of 2022, projected the District to deficit spend by $5,306,020 for this past 2023\/24 school year.\u00a0 Over the last 2 years, we have made significant cost reductions by not replacing retiring\/resigning staff and budget cuts.\u00a0 Through these measures, what was projected at $5m in deficit spending actually came in at a deficit of $431,856.\u00a0 Unfortunately, we still project to deficit spend in 24\/25 and beyond.\u00a0 As Casey Wright has said numerous times, we are not going to cut our way out of this. The only way to get back on track is to get additional funding from the community (we cannot wait for the State to do the right thing).\u00a0 It\u2019s never fun to ask for money, but this is where we stand.\u00a0 The Schools have been hit by the same inflation as every person and every business around.<\/em><\/p>\n In short, I\u2019m going to direct you back to the first sentence. \u00a0Please endorse the next school levy request.\u00a0 Please ask your memberships to volunteer<\/u>.<\/em><\/p>\n We all need to come together and get the next levy passed. With all of us together, We are Nordonia!”<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" this is an email from Chad – he sent this out to different district leadership folks – like union leaders, PTA leadership – etc…he gave me permission to share this – I echo his sentiment. “All, I am emailing all … Continue reading \n