Americans For Prosperity weighs in on South Range operating levy
By ROBERT CONNELLY
NORTH LIMA
A national conservative advocacy and anti-tax group funded by billionaires Charles and David Koch is supporting a group in the South Range school district that is calling for greater accountability in school operations.
Americans for Prosperity also is weighing in on the operating levy on the May 5 ballot for district voters.
Jim Shaw, Northeast Ohio regional director for AFP, told a gathering of about 15 people of the ACT Now for South Range Schools group last week at the former South Range High School that his group would help ACT’s effort. ACT Now stands for Accountability, Clarity and Transparency for the district.
Specifically, ACT is seeking a performance audit of the schools by the state, a comprehensive and detailed review of a five-year plan for the district, and district participation in the state treasurer’s Open Checkbook program online.
“We’re behind a lot of the points they made,” Shaw said. “We’re working to help the group there educate the people that live in the school district and make sure that they are all aware” of the emergency operating levy on the ballot, Shaw added.
Like ACT, Americans for Prosperity is neither officially endorsing nor opposing the levy. In general, AFP promotes limited government, lower taxes and more personal freedoms.
“This is the first time we’ve done a school issue [in Ohio]. We’ve weighed in on other issues” such as the Summit County sales tax, Shaw said.
AFP spent more than $62,000 in its successful campaign to defeat the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium’s property-tax request last year, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
In South Range, AFP will pay for one to two informational mailings to residents of Beaver and Green townships as well as doing one to two phone calls to area residents in the lead up to the primary. Voters have in front of them a 4.9-mill operating levy for three years that would generate $931,838 annually.
“The amount of the tax is our biggest concern,” Shaw explained.
The national anti-tax group Americans for Prosperity spent more than $62,000 in its campaign to defeat the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium’s property-tax request this spring.
The levy was rejected by 70 percent of voters in the primary election.
At South Range, “We’re going to continue to show our residents and our school-aged children’s parents that we have an absolute need, necessity, for this increased funding that benefits the kids of this community,” said Dennis Dunham, superintendent. “Any effort to minimize the need by any organization is certainly counterproductive for us.”
When asked specifically about ACT Now for South Range schools, Dunham said that every district has two sides to a story and then specifically addressed that group’s call for transparency.
“The notion that there is no transparency ... That’s troubling to me because people always have the opportunity to attend meetings or ask questions,” Dunham said.
A message for Larry Maynard, chairman for Citizens for South Range schools, was not returned.