Our recommendation: Springboro voters should say 'yes' the first time to school levies

Im listening wrote:

<quoted text>
Does anyone know if we can contract out the services of the pro levy groups, like NFSS? We all know that our hard earned taxes go to them and then they force us to pay more to them, it's a big circle of life. The NFSS is chalk full of teachers, bus drivers, board members, admin and spouses of them. None of these group members are just tax payers without being tied to the money. Every pro levy person is looking for a cash payoff as raises or benefits.
Let's find a group that will do the job without the conflict of interest? lol it might take us hundreds of years but I believe in CHANGE

The change we believe in is here with the newly elected board majority now functioning, and with no conflict of interest, and doing what's right for our school children and community.
Personally, I believe that free elections have consequences; and the improvements in the leadership of our board majority IS the change that our union activists are fighting mightily to REVERSE.

During the past five failed school levy seasons, and two school board representative election cycles, our community as a whole has voted out the services of the pro levy groups like NFSS; as well as voting out our previous union-first school board elected officials.

Common sense taxpayers have full confidence in our new board's leadership and fully support our new board majority and our children first budgeting plan; only the union insiders, with the support of our remaining union school board members Mr. Anderson and Mr. Miller, refuse to accept the "reality of change" as reflected in the November victory of electing Mr. Petroni and Mr. Rigano, as our choice of new school board representatives.

During the past five months of school board meetings, our union- first school employees and pro-levy union activists have closed their minds to new ideas of problem solving of school districts financial challenges and the challenge of improvements in our children's educational needs. They grandstand boldly during public meetings, challenging our strong beliefs in our new board majority, who are doing what's right for our school children and community.

Their "we need a levy" protests for teachers rights for increased pay and benefits, at the expense of struggling Springboro families and taxpaying homeowners, remain their priority; as they continue their campaign to distract, discredit, and personally attack our board majority, and all community members who disagree with their union-first school budgeting plan (which throws our kids under the bus)! Common sense voters must stand firm on our principles of demanding a balanced budget (with no tax increases) even if it means cutting administrators to meet our children's needs first.

"weakened president Scott Anderson"....

Scott Anderson has always been weak, whether on the school board, or city council.

goon springboro style wrote:

"weakened president Scott Anderson"....
Scott Anderson has always been weak, whether on the school board, or city council.

Really "weakened president Scott Anderson"..... even in the restaurant business?
never bothered to show up at the May 24 board meeting?
guess he had other "fish" to fry....

Im listening wrote:

<quoted text>
Does anyone know if we can contract out the services of the pro levy groups, like NFSS? We all know that our hard earned taxes go to them and then they force us to pay more to them, it's a big circle of life. The NFSS is chalk full of teachers, bus drivers, board members, admin and spouses of them. None of these group members are just tax payers without being tied to the money. Every pro levy person is looking for a cash payoff as raises or benefits.
Let's find a group that will do the job without the conflict of interest? lol it might take us hundreds of years but I believe in CHANGE

We need improvements in the system rather than just "change" of name in government leadership. Amd I believe in the improvements that our board of education majority are bringing to our local school government by implementing the children first budgeting plan.

There's probably litttle that can be done about the contracts in the existing "system". What can be done to improve the "system" is bring in new hires under more reasonable contracts and pro-rate contributions for existing employees. Even marginal changes can have a big impact toward maintaining our school district's fiscal health without requesting a continuous stream of school levies.

You see, I believe this school district employs many fine and devoted people who work hard, are good at what they do, and earn everything they get. But, there are also those who work without results. I believe Springboro residents are responsible and generous enough to recognize the difference.
AND, I believe we need to restore our "public sector" to a place where our elected officials can make those distinctions and allocate rewards and resources accordingly. One of the few silver linings of our tough economy today is that it is forcing tough decisions. Our BOE elected officials are having issues with school union employees, because we've reached a point where we simply cannot afford business as usual. And the union's business as usual is their outdated mindset that
"there's is no connection between effort and reward. You are guaranteed your job! You are guaranteed your salary increase! There's a kind of "cult-like" bureaucratic equality!

AND our BOE majority are having issues with our BOE minority union school board members because our union school board members refuse to accept the reality of no more "status quo guarantees" at the expense of struggling homeowners. We cannot afford to "fall back" to the same failed agenda of previous elected officials who promoted "union first" with our school tax dollars.

where to go from here....? I believe the best we can do is elect and fully support our school board representatives who are strong minded enough to buck the system and speak honestly. We can all express our appreciate to politicians who are willing to start talking about the reality of public employee uunions today and the unreasonable costs they are imposing on our society.

For example: Since the first of the year, there has been a continuous presence through "pre-arranged public participation" union activists at Springboro Board of Education public meetings. These union activists flap their "Boro Angel Wings" from the bully union pulpit spewing out disrespect, envy, anger, and hostility at board members, school staff, and community members (who are held captive against responding, according to "rules and by-laws" that our union activists never respect). Their "teachers first" above all common sense leadership is their only "madness of march" to their own union drum beat.
Last meeting, another NFSS union activist lauded and applauded emphatically from the bully pulpit of tunnel vision "SB5" had suffered a defeat across the state; point taken....
but, we must broaden our vision to include lauding and applauding from the common sense voters that last November, Issue 2, which extends more local control over our school tax dollars to local citizens, passed in Warren County by a majority vote!

Point Counter Point wrote:

For example: Since the first of the year, there has been a continuous presence through "pre-arranged public participation" union activists at Springboro Board of Education public meetings. These union activists flap their "Boro Angel Wings" from the bully union pulpit spewing out disrespect, envy, anger, and hostility at board members, school staff, and community members (who are held captive against responding, according to "rules and by-laws" that our union activists never respect). Their "teachers first" above all common sense leadership is their only "madness of march" to their own union drum beat.
Last meeting, another NFSS union activist lauded and applauded emphatically from the bully pulpit of tunnel vision "SB5" had suffered a defeat across the state; point taken....
but, we must broaden our vision to include lauding and applauding from the common sense voters that last November, Issue 2, which extends more local control over our school tax dollars to local citizens, passed in Warren County by a majority vote!

Agree, Now I am questioning the causes spearheaded by this speaker, Toni Valaskas has been a person that advocates for cancer fundraising and now yells that we will need more money to pay teachers more and yelling that SB5 failed by a large margin. See, now I am seeing the formula, his causes are, "give us your money" in some cases we will ask nicely and beg and in other cases we will demand it while we hurt your children". Interesting they go together to be a socialist agenda. In both cases we see the takers and the makers. The takers find every way they can to take. It's always for a "good cause". A takers job is to take and smile while they take and you don't even know they are taking because it feels like you chose this option. To Toni and his NFSS peeps, we woke up and we know you are picking our pockets and we are slapping your hand, with a smile though. Moral of the story give nothing to anyone unless it is directly to whom needs it and you are the one making the choice freely. Leave out the middle man takers who help themselves to a slice. What is in it for Toni? All of these takers have a hand on the money.

Another point to consider: Who works for whom?

How many of us can honestly exclaim, after leaving some local, state, or federal office these days: "Wow! I have "peeps" here "working" for ME???

Is it not agreed for the most part that the public employee Unions are in fact the "managers" in the relationship with politicians; and that you and I in the private sector are working for them? This especially seems true when health care and pensions are included that government workers increasingly seem to live better than the people who pay their salaries.

There may be "unknown" factors to be considered; but it appears from what most of us know that the unionization of government employees continues to GROW, to the point where public sector union members now outnumber their private sector counterparts.

As public employees unionize, their union dues (which are often collected for the unions by the government) fund a permanent interest constantly lobbying for BIGGER government. To pay for this BIGGER and MORE expensive (layer upon layer) government, the Public unions advocate for HIGHER taxes on those in the Private sector.

It is only when threatened with layoffs that the union advocates for higher taxes are even inclined to compromise--and sometimes even then they refuse by threatening to "hurt our children" by walking out of our classrooms (causing brain-drain throughout our community!) And that's what I mean when I ask: How many of you walk into some local government office these days and can honestly say: "Wow, I have "peeps" here working for me?"

Public unions need to be made illegal. Unions, public and private have actually destroyed this country. Once protecting the balance of power they now destroy the balance of power. The greed is clearly in the hands of the public workers and they now feel entitled to our hard earned money. Now the police, firefighters and teachers and any other public union employee truly believe they are the hardest working people on earth and they have the hardest most complicated jobs of anyone. What??? You mean to tell me they think they work harder than the rest of us? What arrogance! How can we educate them? They are so convinced by their unions that they are to be worshiped, that is hard to tolerate. Teachers I know call their job part time jobs. Teachers that say it like it is know they are paid extremely well for part time work. Do they know they are actually thought of very poorly, only because of their bigger, better than thou attitudes? None of them work harder than anyone else, everyone has a difficult job but very few are paid and benefited as well. Oh Toni, SB5 passed in Warren County and passed huge here in Springboro! Do your homework, put it in your pipe and smoke it.

@Im Listening...asking "How can we educate them?"

THIS SCHOOL DISTRICT DESERVES AN "A" for Educating Springboro!

"Change" is not a four-letter word. And, despite what many seem to believe, it’s not always bad either.
Change is especially important when it comes to K-12 education. Reformers often appropriately use the term "kids first" when it comes to our educational priorities. Too many times, however, "adults first" is the prevailing philosophy. That has to change (there’s that magic word again) and it is in one Ohio school district.
Check out the excerpts from an excellent report by the Education Action Group:
Springboro’s old philosophy was like that of many public school districts: Teachers were given annual “step” raises and administrators received nice salary perks, whether there was money in the district’s budget or not. If the district couldn’t afford it, voters were expected to approve tax hikes to pay for it all, or accept cuts to student services.
That old “adults first” approach was on full display in 2009, when district officials chose to address their financial woes by eliminating busing for high school students, laying off 30 district employees, and raising pay-to-play fees for after school activities.
Not long after that, Kelly Kohls, a mother of five and a former college professor, joined the Springboro school board and a new “children first” philosophy began to emerge.
Kohls’ approach of challenging the “business as usual” mindset has proven very effective. The district now requires employees to contribute more for their health insurance plans. Backdoor bonuses for administrators have been eliminated, annual teacher “step” raises have been frozen, and a variety of spending cuts have been implemented.
The results are evident in the school’s financial trajectory. A few years ago the district was projecting a $30 million deficit. Today it’s projecting a $4 million surplus, even though the community is still reeling from the weak economy, which has caused a 400 percent increase in the number of people needing assistance from the local food bank, according to Kohls.

...continued from above post

Kohls’ self-described “kids first” approach has caused a lot of heartburn among Springboro’s school establishment. During her brief tenure on the board, district officials have publicly blamed Kohls for the defeat of a $6 million school levy, the departures of a superintendent, a district treasurer, a school board president and the large turnover in school administrators.
Members of the Springboro Education Association – the local teachers union – use school board meetings to excoriate Kohls for opposing teacher pay raises and proposing budget cuts.

“Some people get so entrenched in the old philosophy that it’s tough to get them to think whether or not something is going to help the kids,” Kohls says of the criticism.“We need a different way of thinking.”

Voters seem to agree. Last November, they elected two of Kohls’ allies, giving fiscal conservatives control of the five-member school board, which began its current term in January.
Kohls says her approach has been to “ask a lot of questions” and to explain the board’s spending decisions to the community.

continued from above post...

During her campaign for school board, for instance, Kohls asked why Springboro taxpayers were paying both the district’s and administrators’ contributions to the state retirement fund, especially since high school busing had just been cut to save money.

She reasoned that the amount of money spent on the retirement perk ($180,000) should be used to reinstate high school busing ($125,000). Kohls shared her proposal with the community on the Educate Springboro website and now the administrative perk is gone.

When the district’s health insurance costs increased by $830,000, Kohls proposed that employee contributions be raised to 20 percent – in line with what average Springboro residents paid – to offset the extra costs. She thought it made sense, especially since the district was in the middle of a financial emergency that left schools unable to purchase new textbooks or make basic building repairs. Her fellow board members at the time didn’t agree, and the district absorbed the increase.

But Kohls used the Educate Springboro website to bring her case to the public, and the philosophical shift became evident.
“People started looking at the other four board members, and asked,‘How could you say yes to the increase?’” Kohls says.
Today, employees pay 15 percent of their health insurance costs, and the district has joined a health care consortium which has resulted in nearly $6 million in savings.
Since January, the new board has enshrined its “children first” philosophy in a series of 28 goals, which include setting district money aside to help prepare students for the ACT test, among other things.

The board has switched to zero-based budgeting, meaning that school budgets will not automatically increase every year. Instead, teachers are being asked to submit annual budgets outlining specific resources they need.

The board is also developing policies that prioritize district spending, to ensure that student-centered spending needs are met before employee benefits and wage increases are considered. Kohls is crafting a point system to determine which employees will receive bonuses from the leftover funds.

the truthmeter wrote:

<quoted text>
Dr Kohls has been an educator for more years then the kids in Springboro schools have been alive. So many people complain about her because they wish they were more like her. Successful. David Rigano gets the same treatment. He is also successful. The internet was invented to share information. The parents should realize this. There is no need for us to pay for the schools. Turn the computers on and quit asking me for money to pay for your kids. The principle makes to much. That has been talked about for years. Look at the work Dr Kohl and Mr. Rigano have done. They can prove how much we spend paying for people to teach. But you can get free school on the internet so why are we even doing this? The schools need to be cheaper but internet schools are free. and if you do not have your own computer they will even give you one. How is that not a good deal? Dr Kohls fights for the taxpayers. Rick Santorum does to. Homeschool or internet school are best so you are not asking other people to take care of your kids.

The above NOT "truthmeter" post is typical of the raves and rants of unionized ridicule (protesting for teachers rights to demand "teachers first" in our school's budgeting plan) which is preached from the union bully pulpit as social justice gospel in Saul Alinsky's book: Rules for Radicals.
This unionized bible sets forth the principles of union activists' rebellion against the established principles of protecting and promoting responsibility of the family unit, as the most important important to our economy and our society.

Too often, our public schools union employees, compete with the family in their tunnel-vision self-interest agenda to present the "local school government" as the primary caretaker/co-parent of our children enrolled in our public schools. Many of these priorities that soak up our school tax dollars needed for classroom educacation are nothing more than social engineering. Their agenda is to raise the next generation with the same "Government Entitlement Mentality" of our union activists that everyone has a "right" to demand a government big enough to meet the "wants" of each one.(For example, this obsession that our federal and state governments currently express locally in the "fatness" of our school kids; and how the government is taking charge to "caretake and micromanage our kids fatness" according to whatever the latest findings are from the government's research (which is conducted to support whatever high cost agenda is "the cause of the day" in our kid's government controlled education). This in turn, mandates large numbers of school staff members to "regulate, tabulate, and communicate" test results to the government's "Fat Patrol Experts." This in turn requires more work for the "Fat Patrol" which then leads to big demands that "It Takes Money!" to educate our fatter than ever kids; so taxpayers must trim even more money from their already skinny earnings; and fatten up those union activists pockets, who are "doing it all for OUR kids!" Oh indeed! how our union activists do "treasure" our kids for "laying up more dollars in their SEA "treasure" chests!
How is that not a "good deal" for the union??

Keep Talking wrote:

@Im Listening...asking "How can we educate them?"
THIS SCHOOL DISTRICT DESERVES AN "A" for Educating Springboro!
"Change" is not a four-letter word. And, despite what many seem to believe, it’s not always bad either.
Change is especially important when it comes to K-12 education. Reformers often appropriately use the term "kids first" when it comes to our educational priorities. Too many times, however, "adults first" is the prevailing philosophy. That has to change (there’s that magic word again) and it is in one Ohio school district.
Check out the excerpts from an excellent report by the Education Action Group:
Springboro’s old philosophy was like that of many public school districts: Teachers were given annual “step” raises and administrators received nice salary perks, whether there was money in the district’s budget or not. If the district couldn’t afford it, voters were expected to approve tax hikes to pay for it all, or accept cuts to student services.
That old “adults first” approach was on full display in 2009, when district officials chose to address their financial woes by eliminating busing for high school students, laying off 30 district employees, and raising pay-to-play fees for after school activities.
Not long after that, Kelly Kohls, a mother of five and a former college professor, joined the Springboro school board and a new “children first” philosophy began to emerge.
Kohls’ approach of challenging the “business as usual” mindset has proven very effective. The district now requires employees to contribute more for their health insurance plans. Backdoor bonuses for administrators have been eliminated, annual teacher “step” raises have been frozen, and a variety of spending cuts have been implemented.
The results are evident in the school’s financial trajectory. A few years ago the district was projecting a $30 million deficit. Today it’s projecting a $4 million surplus, even though the community is still reeling from the weak economy, which has caused a 400 percent increase in the number of people needing assistance from the local food bank, according to Kohls.

Be careful there, Ms. Kohls. You are going to strain your arm trying to pat yourself on the back like that. LOL

Keep Talking wrote:

where to go from here....? I believe the best we can do is elect and fully support our school board representatives who are strong minded enough to buck the system and speak honestly. We can all express our appreciate to politicians who are willing to start talking about the reality of public employee uunions today and the unreasonable costs they are imposing on our society.

All politics are local.... During the month of June our "school politics" will focus on two "huge-cost" issues in our Springboro Schools Board of Education meetings:(1) Pay-to-Play Fees For Our Students Participation in sports/extra-curriculars and (2) how to meet the challenge of continued safe bus transportation for school children (with No New Taxes).
Our "teachers first" union coalition continues to distract, discredit, and personally attack our BOE majority "Children First
Budgeting" while using the public school board meetings to bully the deamnds of our severly weakened Springboro Education Association.

Yawn wrote:

<quoted text>
Be careful there, Ms. Kohls. You are going to strain your arm trying to pat yourself on the back like that. LOL

That's just YOUR opinion; but So Silly!

Why ever would Ms. Kohls do that when news articles like this one are spreading the facts?

http://indianachamberblogs.com/education/this...

Keep Talking wrote:

@Im Listening...asking "How can we educate them?"
THIS SCHOOL DISTRICT DESERVES AN "A" for Educating Springboro!
"Change" is not a four-letter word. And, despite what many seem to believe, it’s not always bad either.
Change is especially important when it comes to K-12 education. Reformers often appropriately use the term "kids first" when it comes to our educational priorities. Too many times, however, "adults first" is the prevailing philosophy. That has to change (there’s that magic word again) and it is in one Ohio school district.
Check out the excerpts from an excellent report by the Education Action Group:
Springboro’s old philosophy was like that of many public school districts: Teachers were given annual “step” raises and administrators received nice salary perks, whether there was money in the district’s budget or not. If the district couldn’t afford it, voters were expected to approve tax hikes to pay for it all, or accept cuts to student services.
That old “adults first” approach was on full display in 2009, when district officials chose to address their financial woes by eliminating busing for high school students, laying off 30 district employees, and raising pay-to-play fees for after school activities.
Not long after that, Kelly Kohls, a mother of five and a former college professor, joined the Springboro school board and a new “children first” philosophy began to emerge.
Kohls’ approach of challenging the “business as usual” mindset has proven very effective. The district now requires employees to contribute more for their health insurance plans. Backdoor bonuses for administrators have been eliminated, annual teacher “step” raises have been frozen, and a variety of spending cuts have been implemented.
The results are evident in the school’s financial trajectory. A few years ago the district was projecting a $30 million deficit. Today it’s projecting a $4 million surplus, even though the community is still reeling from the weak economy, which has caused a 400 percent increase in the number of people needing assistance from the local food bank, according to Kohls.

Totally agree with the Children First Budgeting philosophy and fully support Dr. Kohls' leadership as our school board representative!

Yawn wrote:

<quoted text>
Be careful there, Ms. Kohls. You are going to strain your arm trying to pat yourself on the back like that. LOL

Isn't it true that all YOUR criticism is really about YOUR envy of Ms. Kohls' success and popularity as an "effective" elected official in our school district? Ms. Kohls demonstates that rare "quality of character" of a professional who is truly educated to "serve the public" doing what's right to improve our schools and community; instead of "pro-union self-interest" in "controlling" status quo school government.

Have you ever tried to "enlighten" yourself and better understand WHY the success of our winning school board respresentatives makes you so mean spirited and jealous? Your "teachers first" agenda has been "judged" unfit for service by the majority of our school district voters and, whether you accept it or not, the children first budgeting plan is being implemented successfully, and is fully supported by the majority of voters.

Here Come Da Judge wrote:

<quoted text>
Isn't it true that all YOUR criticism is really about YOUR envy of Ms. Kohls' success and popularity as an "effective" elected official in our school district? Ms. Kohls demonstates that rare "quality of character" of a professional who is truly educated to "serve the public" doing what's right to improve our schools and community; instead of "pro-union self-interest" in "controlling" status quo school government.
Have you ever tried to "enlighten" yourself and better understand WHY the success of our winning school board respresentatives makes you so mean spirited and jealous? Your "teachers first" agenda has been "judged" unfit for service by the majority of our school district voters and, whether you accept it or not, the children first budgeting plan is being implemented successfully, and is fully supported by the majority of voters.

Here I am, did you call?