School district's growth has a price

The state should get rid of the requirement for busing to charter schools. Most of them are failing worse than any public schools and its just inefficient to send the kids across town. If people really want to go to someplace else, let them pay for it.

Has anyone had an increase in their pay equalling 66% in the last 15 years? NO! Wages have been driven down and our community(with all it's forclosures and high unemployment cannot sustain anothr levy.This levy is about teacher and administrator raises,not extra curriculars and bussing.Go to swatlevy.com if you want to see what SWCS is doing with OUR money.

Costs would not have outpaced revenue if this district would stop handing out raises like it thinks it has the financial base of Upper Arlington.Look at the pathetic test results of SWCS students,only 3 comparable districts did worse! When have you gotten raises for failure? These teachers and administrators only work 9 months a year-7 hour days...so when you're looking at their salaries(incl totally payed for health,dental and optical insurance)remember that. This district has divided our community(haves/have nots)under the guise of extra curriculars and bussing,using our children as pawns to manipulate a levy and raises out of us.There should be legal recourse for voters who've said NO 3 times.

How many familys will lose their farms because of the increase in property taxes? The rural homeowners of Jackson , Plesant, and Praire twp can not afford the property tax solution!

The head man in charge of the South Western City Sehools does not deserve a rase in pay ,when outhers have to take a pay cut. Wen he takes a pay cut of 40% and the money goes to the students I may vote for it ,when pigs fly !

I didnot realize the Dispatch was running ads for SWCS free of charge. This story wasn't even disguised as balanced. This is why the subscription rate is down. I won't pay for such biased drivel, let alone vote for a levy that the district is forking over $80,000 for, and then paying over $68,000 to have an audit done. I thought they couldn't cut anymore...why pay for the audit if they are going to tell you what you are telling us.

Why do they have paid "Teacher aids"... When I was a kid, they used student teachers still in college. They were NOT paid.

Thank you for an excellent article. Apparently some of the other commenters like to make up their minds before being presented with the facts.

I cant wait for the Dispatch to go out of business. No competition for this newspaper since the death of the CJ (Citizen Journal). The Dispatch put them out of business. The Dispatch has become a Propaganda tool of local politicians and school districts instead of the watchdog for the people the free press was intended to be.

The SWCS district has been corrupt for decades. Look back at the criminal activity when the land purchases took place for the new schools. Someone should have went to prison over those land deals. The long time residents of this district are well aware of the Cronies that rule this district.(www.swatlevy.com )We that have been here know that the district and its board needs flushed of its tyrants. It is controlled by Unions and Politicians in the Unions pockets.

Carla Edlefson wrote:

Thank you for an excellent article. Apparently some of the other commenters like to make up their minds before being presented with the facts.

What facts? Present statictics and try to convince people that they havent had a levy since 1995. Tricky wording and deceptive. The last levy in 2004 was suppose to solve there funding problems. Deceptive reporting. How about those statistics on student performance for the money?

The writer of this article should have read the Free Lunch article in todays paper. Does it not stand to reason if the requests for free lunch have increased by 15% in the past two years, many of those living in the district are having a hard time and simply cannot afford more property taxes paid to a school district that continues not to listen.

There are several areas that cuts are still viable..why do high schools need 4-5 principals..2 should be enough..thats approx. $225,000 per high school..re-do bus routes..I've sit at Westland HS and watched several buses leave with no more than 5 students...SWCS has 2 admin bldgs..close one down..

You are right Army Parent,in my neighborhood(far west side/Galloway)there are forclosures all over the place.I've watched my neighbors(with families)walk away from their american dream as homeowners.The elitists that want this "blood money"from us find it unimaginable that these taxes are beyond our ability to pay.These homes sit empty because no one can qualify for loans with their pathetically driven down incomes and increased health care costs.Why isn't anyone telling this story?

The Dispatch has become the "Ministry of Propaganda" for corrupt political Tyrants, deceptive school districts, and greedy educational unions! Who speaks for the taxpayers?! The Media sure doesn't do us any favors! Why subscribe to this ****** paper?! VOTE NO! against Issue 2. Visit our website, swatlevy.com

Way to go Voters! You can feel the momentum building for the NO VOTE. After all aren't we supposed to be in a time of transparency. Even though we do still have to dig for the facts. For assistance go to (swatlevy.com ) Why are our school districts making money on school lunches? I am quite sure this is illegal or for sure not intended! Charlie Boss needs to do more homework. Maybe there should have been a conversation between Charlie and Simone who wrote the article on school lunches that further verifies the negative economic trends in the SWCS District. SWCS Voters - look at the Comprehensive Financial Report most likely Page 89!. In year ending 2006 the District received over 7 million for food service revenue. After expenditure there was a balance in the fund of $400,000+. The figures will be on the site ASAP and will include year ending 6-30-2008. I did find where 49.6% of the students are on some kind of meal assistance way up from 10 years ago. These figures are also on the Ohio Department of Education Somewhere!

It has become apparent to me that Swatt stands for"southwesterners whining about taxes".Someone payed taxes for you to be put through school,and you can not tell me that all of you just went to class and did nothing after school,or walked to school, all of you? Our district is doing the best they can with the position the state and you negative,selfish people have put them in.With student numbers increasing and more qualified teachers,do you think the cost will not increase as well.Yes times are tough,but OUR schools should not suffer.The levy is for 4 years not forever.The bussing is required by the state,2004 levy was for improvement,which is the parking lots,building maintenance etc.There has been no operating levy since 1995,can you live off your salary from 15 years ago,No, niether can they.As far as the 80,000 to put the issue back on in August and the 68.000 audit cost you ask for transparency you got it,now you want to complain about their efforts to give you what you wanted.It is time for all of us to sacrifice for the greater good,OUR KIDS!.See you at the polls

I can see where the nay-sayers of this levy are coming from, but it's like they are fighting a big corporation. They think that by not passing this levy, they will hurt South-western city schools, but all they are really hurting is the children, the future, and their property values. Please think about who your really hurting by not voting for this levy.

Our school district and community are divided over the future leaders. However, the "SWATT" group apparently would rather complain about taxes without a realistic "alternatitive to school taxes." They have filed court cases but if their alternative would have worked there would be a state sales tax. SWATT gives out false misleading information and only indicates proof of this same information will be posted on their website. THIS INFORMATION HAS NEVER BEEN POSTED BECAUSE IT IS FALSE. The cost the schools pay teachers in our district is lower than comparable districts and every district this cost is around 87% of the total funding, ours is at 81% with 1/2 of the tax funding. However, ALL OTHER COMPARABLE DISTRICTS have higher property taxes, lower student numbers and they pass levies on a regular basis. If the people in our district pass ISSUE 2 we will still be paying less than comparable districts with 1/3 the students and we will still be paying less to teachers and administrators. Many people falsely assume that all schools waste money and funds. If voters took the time to look at the real, numbers and costs instead of what SWATT is trying to sell they would see the truth and be surprised at how well our district has done with what they have.

Bob wrote:

I cant wait for the Dispatch to go out of business. No competition for this newspaper since the death of the CJ (Citizen Journal). The Dispatch put them out of business. The Dispatch has become a Propaganda tool of local politicians and school districts instead of the watchdog for the people the free press was intended to be.

The Dispatch is only reporting the true facts of the situation in SWCS district. This is what the people complained that the district didn't do previously. Now they give the facts, numbers and information that people ask for and in response those who asked for this information now complain. Could it be that they were wrong in what they believed?? It seems clear that the negative voters don't want the real facts as they don't want to be told they are wrong in what they thought about the school district or anything for that matter.

By the way CJ was owned by the dispatch - CJ was delivered in the morning and the Dispatch was the afternoon paper. At least this statement in error won't affect the education and future of thousands of children.