In about one month, the Bowling Green Board of Education will begin discussing its plan to revive the school bond issue from the 550-vote loss this election, initiating a campaign to make Bowling Green City Schools a more competitive district.
“Right now, we’re in limbo,” Superintendent Francis Scruci said. “Our board of education has decided to take time away from the topic, and we’re going to reconvene probably in the latter part of December or beginning of January and have conversations about where we go from here.”
The tax increase seeking to consolidate three district elementary schools into one, fix the high school’s decaying infrastructure and provide additional educational resources to students was met with heavy opposition.
“People are just reluctant to take on extra taxes,” City Council member Bruce Jeffers said. “It’s close enough that there’s a pretty good chance, if they put the bond up again and make some alterations, it could pass. I’ve been in education for 30 years, and I’ve seen a number of similar issues that people are reluctant for a while, and they think about it a little further, and they see that it’s necessary.”
Pamphlets containing misleading or false information circulated around the city, fueling much of the campaign against the bond and leaving many Bowling Green residents hesitant to contribute money to the cause.
“Most operating levies or bonds that are not simply renewals are usually not passed for the first time around,” Jeffers said. “It’s customary for people to get a lot of questions answered.”
City Council offered unanimous support for the bond, citing the influx of residents and money entering the city as a reason for an improved education system.
Communities face difficulties maintaining residents and healthy wage-paying jobs in the city without a quality school district in place, and cities like Perrysburg, with advanced educational resources, can siphon students and families away.
Council is determined to make change.
“Maybe the approach, as a city, we take after this is to have a conversation between City Council and the school board,” City Council member Daniel Gordon said. “At the core of this bond issue, and the reason why myself and so many others supported it, was that we did not want to continue tolerating the existing inequities that occur in the BG school system that occur because there are different resources going to different schools. And I certainly felt that the kind of resources you get as a student should not depend on where you live in Bowling Green. And that’s definitely a quality of life issue that the school board, but also something City Council should care about.”
While alterations may be made to help ensure passage, Scruci said he has no plans to make a watered-down version of the bond. He said the current version is exactly what will meet students’ needs.