Geauga record. [volume] (Chardon, Geauga County, Ohio) 1952-1962, 1960-10-27

ght at the state school con-
ference urged voters to sup
port the Wo school levieS that
will appear on the November
ballot. In explaining the
need for the levieS, Mr.. Can
field said:
"All Of the people assembl-
ed here indicate an increas-
ing interest in the improve
ment of our educational syS-
tenn, both local and S t a t e =
wide. We have discussed man
many phases of the prob =
lem and listened to m a ny
suggestions concerning i'm =
provement. Unfortunately
practically all of these things
come back to the question Of
from where does the money
come to activate the impro-
vementS
Your second State House
Conference, coming in N o =
vember, is supposed to take
up the ways Of achieving the
goals or in answering t h e
question, How do we get
what we want in our school"
Money to finance the pro =
gram is Of utmost Importance
The public will vote on this
issue before it is discussed in
our next general meeting.
Therefore everyone must un-
derStand the purpose and the
use to which the two levies
appearing on the ballot this
fall are to be put.
The board, last spring, de-
cided to ask for a renewal of
the existing six mill levy.
This renewal will not add to
the present tax rate but is an
essential part Of our basic
school budget. The loss Of
this approximately $120,000
from our operating budget
would seriously cripple t h e
school operation and might
cause irreparable damage. II
teachers salaries are cut
class sizes are increased and
other services of the school
eliminated, many of our pest
teachers would seek employ
ment elsewhere. This is un :
thinkable. The renewal Of the
SiX-mill levy is a must.
The board Of education al
so decided last spring to ask
for an additional three mill
levy of short duration, three
years, in hopes that it might
tide us over the present fund
shortage. In spite of every ef-
fort to hold down costs our
budget has steadily increased
due to the general initiation,
added teachers salaries and
necessary additional teach =
ers added to the system to
take care of the increasing
enrolment. This last y e ar
our enrolment increased by
one hundred twenty nine stu
dents, which would call for
an additional five teachers,
minimum.
This millage represents
the normal increase in over
all costs which we have to
meet to sustain our present
curriculum and pay our bills
for operation. We have set the
period Of three years because
in this period we will see a
new parochial school open in
Chardon which may call for
an adjustment in our elemen-
tary school budget and pro-
gram. At the same time, we
hope to be able to convince
the state legislature that the
State of Ohio should assume
a greater portion of the tax
burden for support of schools
and make it possible to reli-
eve the presently over = bur-
dened property taxpayer
This three mill levy will
cost the taxpayer thirty cents
on each one hundred dollars
of valuation. According to
one survey, this would amo-
unit to about fifteen dollars a
year for the average home
owner.
If these two levieS are
passed successfully we C a n
continue our study of ways
and means to improve our
school system. We can con =
tinue to add to our library.
We can continue to improve
and expand our foreign Ian
guage offerings. We can fol-
low up many of the sugges-
tionS made through meetings
such as this.
"If the levies, either one or
both, fail to pass drastic mea-
sures will have to be taken
to reduce our budget. A care
full study of our financial sta
tus would have to follow. The
next State House conference
meeting would then be con-
cerned with the serious prob
lem of eliminating or cutting
back services which h ave
come to be expected by the
public. Other communities