Issue 3 isn't a bonanza for higher education in Ohio

Issue 3 isn't a bonanza for higher education in Ohio
EDITOR:
Learn and Earn casinos -- Ohio's solution to financing higher education? I think not. The television commercials communicate to the viewing audience an easy solution for all Ohio students who will attend an Ohio university. Guess what. Everything you see on television isn't true.
Get all the facts. Every student in college today gets nothing from Learn and Earn Casinos. Students who will graduate in 2007 and 2008 will get nothing from Learn and Earn casinos. The qualifications for receiving a scholarship are very specific. Candidates must take core and advanced academic courses. Not every student who goes on to college takes advanced placement academic courses. No funds will be provided to local schools for the demand of AP courses to qualify for a casino scholarship.
Home-schooled students are excluded from receiving any scholarship money.
About 40 percent of all Ohio high school college-bound graduates are left out of this scholarship plan. Sure, many scholarships are restrictive, but Issue 3 is advertised as a resource for ALL students in Ohio.
The lottery was billed as the great solution for Ohio public school funding. School systems struggle financially more each year. The lottery continues to grow and add games. Where are the growing funds for local schools? Profits from the lottery were absorbed into the Ohio general budget.
Casinos are a great deal for the people who own them. Casinos are not a great deal for the students of Ohio. Do not allow casino owners to use the youth of Ohio to make their profits great.
Get out and vote no on Issue 3 on Nov. 7.
LORI VALENZISI
Boardman
A vote for state Issue 2 is a vote to kill jobs in Ohio
EDITOR:
I am sure the authors of state Issue 2 were full of good intentions. But we all know what road is paved with good intentions. If passed, the effect of Issue 2, the constitutional amendment to raise the minimum wage in Ohio, will be to harm many of the people it's intended to help.
Raising the minimum wage raises employers' costs. This forces employers to either raise prices for their goods and services, or lower costs in other areas. Raising prices is often not an option in the competitive marketplace, so cutting costs is often the only option. Very often, this will be done at the expense of the employee through reducing hours, cutting staffing, reducing or cutting benefits, or forgoing expansion. Raising employer costs also makes it more difficult and less attractive for entrepreneurs to start new businesses in Ohio. It also makes Ohio less competitive in attracting new businesses or keeping existing ones.
Almost as damaging are the complex and expensive record keeping required by Issue 2, and the provision that would make employee records virtually public documents. Issue 2 gives access to employee records to "any other interested party." Finally, Issue 2 assures the creation of yet another expensive state bureaucracy by the same people that brought you the Bureau of Workers' Compensation.
Ohio is falling behind most of the rest of the nation in job creation and retention. The last thing we need right now is a measure that makes Ohio less attractive to potential employers. Issue 2 will kill jobs and drive more of our young people to seek greener pastures in other states. Vote NO on Issue 2.
JOHN FOCKLER
National and State Issues Advisor,
Libertarian Party of Ohio
Struthers