5,331 people made it clear that they don’t want higher property taxes by voting down the Green Local School Levy. The levy was defeated by a 53 to 46 percentage on Tuesday. The percentage may not sound that close, but the difference in votes was only 627. This failed levy marks the 12 year in a row that Green has failed to approve new funding. Now Green is forced to cut up to 75 teaching positions and enforce pay to play for sports.
So why can’t Green get a levy to pass? The answer to that is simple as the economy is horrible and property owners don’t want to have to pay higher property taxes. Everything is expensive right now and the last thing most people want is to have to pay more when it is time to pay their property taxes. Can you blame people for not wanting to pay higher property taxes? Not really, but schools are important places that we should stand behind and support. Consider the 5,331 people who voted the levy down were most likely property owners that don’t have any children in the schools. In my opinion everyone should always support the schools no matter what because schools put children on the right path for the future.
The future doesn’t look very bright for Green as more teachers will lose their jobs and fewer classes will be offered. It seems that Green Schools are slowly going to turn into other districts such as Akron who offer only basic classes and no real extras. Green will still remain to be a great district, but not as many elective classes will be offered at the middle and high school. I do give Green credit for being smart and putting pay to play right into place because sports deserves to be cut before teachers do. Having to let go of teachers is not going to be an easy task because Green has many great staff members.
Overall I am very disappointed with Green residents who voted this levy down. They failed to support a very important aspect of the community. Another failed levy means Green has to figure out a better way to get a levy to pass in the future.