Critic of Austintown schools used flawed information

Critic of Austintown schools used flawed information
EDITOR:
As a member of the Austintown Board of Education, I read Wednesday's letter to the editor from an Austintown man with interest. While he challenged people to vote against the children in our school system, he did not make that challenge with truthful statements.
The facts are that the Austintown schools have only one superintendent, not one "just for the high school." We also have one of, if not the smallest staff of administrators for a school system of our size in the state of Ohio. Our director of instruction works throughout the district to develop and implement our curriculum. As a result of her efforts along with a dedicated faculty, six of our eight schools have improved to "effective" ratings and our other two schools have received "excellent" ratings from the state of Ohio.
School financing in the state of Ohio is a mess. It was declared unconstitutional years ago by the Ohio Supreme Court. But, there has been no serious action to correct the funding by governor Taft or the Legislature. As a result, there will be over 300 hundred schools districts with levies on the ballot in Ohio this November. This is a record number. School finances is not an Austintown problem, it is an Ohio problem.
While we in Austintown have made over $2 million in cuts and cost savings in the past two years, including across the board wage freezes, the costs in educating our children have increased. Despite ignoring funding, our federal and state leaders continue to issue mandates, without funding. Health care costs continue to rise. The fuel to heat our buildings and operate our buses continues to increase.
Perhaps our legislators could pass a bill to separate school funding from the rest of the state's biennial budget. This could allow realistic debate and realistic reform in how Ohio funds our children's education. Until then, local boards of education like Austintown, will continue to tighten our belts and act as responsible stewards of your tax dollars. Even with that tightening, there are times when simple math will not allow our revenue and expenses to balance. That is where we are at today. The state has left us with no alternative for revenue and forced local boards to ask to voters for that funding.
As a member of the Austintown Board of Education I remain a taxpayer. I must pay the same property tax mills as any other resident of Austintown. I also am a parent and recognize that we must effectively prepare our children for the world that lies before them. So, in the issue of taxes vs. children, I will be on the side of the children every time. Please support the Austintown schools Nov. 2.
BRAD GESSNER
Austintown
Do we want a proven leader or a performer in charge?
EDITOR:
"No nation will ever have a veto over us. But I think it makes sense, I think most Americans in their guts know that we ought to pass a sort of truth standard."
"No president, through all of American history, has ever ceded, and nor would I, the right to pre-empt in any way necessary to protect the United States of America. But if and when you do it, Jim, you have to do it in a way that passes the test, that passes the global test where your countrymen, your people understand fully why you're doing what you're doing and you can prove to the world that you did it for legitimate reasons. & quot;
"We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance. As a former law-enforcement person, I know we're never going to end prostitution. We're never going to end illegal gambling. But we're going to reduce it, organized crime, to a level where it isn't on the rise. It isn't threatening people's lives every day, and fundamentally, it's something that you continue to fight, but it's not threatening the fabric of your life. & quot;
Do you want someone who thinks like this as president? George Bush has proven to be a leader. John Kerry has proven he should stay in the debating club that we call the Senate.
GREG HARMON
Bessemer, Pa.