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Situation is ‘dire,’ levy committee tells voters

Attitude on schools will change once people realize problem is deeper than spending, organizer says.

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By Lindsey Hilty, Staff Writer 10:01 AM Wednesday, March 17, 2010

LIBERTY TWP. — This summer, more than half of Lakota voters surveyed said they would vote “no” on a November levy.

Eight months later, levy co-chair Cheryl Conaway-Nelson said she is confident that with more information about Lakota’s “dire” situation, voters will change their minds May 4.

“I think as soon as people understand ... it’s not a spending problem — that it truly is an issue of inflation, plus growth and an issue from a state level — once they see it and wrap their mind around it, it changes their mind,” she said. “If you want a good district, you have to pay for it. In the long run, keeping a strong school district is worth the investment.”

Triad Research Group surveyed 600 registered voters in July 2009. Overall, 49 percent said Lakota had enough money to provide a quality education, and 60 percent said if a levy failed, the quality of education would not decline.

Half said the schools have asked for too much money and the district should make cuts instead. The most frequent reasons for opposing a levy: “schools waste money, don’t spend money wisely and could do more with what they have.”

Since that survey, which did not gauge support for the current levy, Conaway-Nelson said more state cuts have occurred and that Lakota has slashed more than $10 million from its $165 million budget.

The decision to wait out the economic storm has made the financial need far more urgent, Treasurer Craig Jones said. “I think the economy is probably about the same or maybe just a little better than it was back in November or in the summer when we were looking at it, but we’re at the point where we need additional revenue no matter where the economy is at.”

Conaway-Nelson said her levy committee is launching a full-scale neighbor-to-neighbor informational campaign. “They need to dig deep,” she said. “People used to just say OK, I’m for a school levy, but this time they have to actually think about it with the way the economy is. This time it’s got to be a conscious choice to make that investment.”

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