To the editor,
Preserve Perrysburg Schools. This is what we are told the current levy will achieve. To keep the district exactly as it is, in its current state. But what exactly are they trying to preserve? It isn’t the administration, because they keep expanding that adding new positions. It isn’t the education system because they keep telling us they have to change it to implement new programs and mandates. It isn’t preserving the current size of the school, because that keeps growing. So what exactly is being preserved?
What the district wants to preserve with this levy is their unrestrained spending. It is much easier to manage the district if they don’t have to be fiscally responsible with the tax payer money and can keep asking for more. We are told this levy will give the district breathing room with the $2 million incremental increase. What they aren’t telling you, is they are projecting their spending to increase over $6 million a year on average during this levy. That spending is what they want to preserve. That is not sustainable. By the end of this levy spending will increase by over 66% to $124 million, not counting the cost of running another school if that is approved. Then they will ask for another larger levy with even greater incremental increases.
We shouldn’t want to preserve this out of control spending. We need reasonable changes today that improves the district and puts us on a sustainable track. Don’t vote based on fear of change. A no vote in November will not result in changes to the schools. The district has the funds to go without a levy passing until November 2025 with no changes to education. That means we have a full year to decide by planning and making meaningful improvements to spending.
Chris Heathcote
Perrysburg
