Coming to your Chardon ballot on November 2 is another plan by the Chardon school board to waste your tax dollars. Being billed as a bond to “provide operational improvements”, this bond is asking for $7.2 Million to be payed over 15 years. The school, and the usual pro-levy pundits are being quiet about this one, hoping the relatively small .8 mills would be an easy sell, as long as not too much information about the bond gets out.
Where would this money be actually be going? For the most part, parking lots. Parking lots for buses to make room for parking lots for the stadium, and more stadium parking on top of that.
Why do they think they need so many parking lots anyway? Well, two reasons:
- The transportation department is so awful that most parents that have any hope of their child being brought to and from school in a reasonable, efficient, and safe fashion, will drive their kids in to school. 1.5 hour one-way bus rides are not uncommon, and 2.5 hour bus rides are not unheard of. This general failure of the transportation department is partially to blame for the congestion issues around the schools.
- In 2017 the district compressed the 8th grade into the high school and 4th & 5th into the middle school. This caused a higher population of students, teachers, and parents in and around these schools. The school board shot themselves in the foot with this decision, and now they are asking you for a bailout!
In addition to being unnecessary, the bus depot that takes the majority of this bond’s funding is extremely overpriced. At $3.8 Million, the district is planning on building the most expensive parking lot in the history of Geauga County. In comparison, there are available turnkey commercial properties on the market in the district available for $450k to $600k. With some major improvements, the total cost of the project should be no more than $1m. Why should the taxpayers approve a plan that is $2.8m over what it should cost?
If you did hear about this bond issue prior to reading this article, you may have been told that it would be for security and ADA compliance. Those components have been part of the regular budget approved by the school board earlier this year. These items will be done regardless of if the bond issue passes or not.
The short story of this bond issue is that it’s just a money grab by the district to make improvements that don’t add any real value for the education of our students.
We encourage everyone to vote NO on this wasteful plan.
