Solution to Edison School District Woes

Here we are back on the subject of the Edison School District, not over the teacher strike, which is finally over and students and teachers are back in the classroom where they belong, but over funding for improvements and a new school. I have read several "groups" lately with ideas that mainly center on the raising of taxes in one form or another. Democrats are notorious for raising taxes to fund projects or fill their coffers, but for a group of citizens/democrats to suggest raising taxes in a district that can not even pass a levy is absurd.

One of these suggestions would be to tax the power plant in the district which means taxing the citizens in the district. LOL They, the citizens of the Edison Local School District, won't pass a levy but taxes will fly here?? I think NOT. Levies have failed and taxes will never even be a consideration to be voted on mainly for one big reason. Regardless of how bad the public may want a new school and new resources in the District, the one fact that remains consistent is that the Edison School Board is still in place which is the same school board that put the district on financial watch by the State Of Ohio. It's great that the initiative is being taken to "talk" about a solution, but think realistically before offering these suggestions. The problem stems form mismanagement of funds first of all, granted they did not mismanage the amount of money required to build a new school, but while on fiscal watch the chance of getting something like a new school to come to fruition is nearly impossible.

There is no painless solution to this problem, but step number one is obviously removing the existing board. Once a new board is in place and have proven to have the citizens of the districts best interest then other option can be researched. My personal opinion is that taxes will never work, if a levy can not pass, new taxes would never pass. Everybody hates getting taxed so those democratic ideas can just get tucked away.

Another interesting solution brought up was Municipal/Capital Lease Options. This is a great idea in theory, but again is there a private party/organization willing to even undertake such am endeavor especially with all the controversy that has plague this district? Who in their right mind would even consider this? Being on fiscal watch would be the first red flag. If the interested party ignored this for whatever reason the next hurdle would be the board. If the board is the current board then once they had met with Lisa Carmichael the deal would be a bust.

So as you can see the root of this problem is not the amount of money the district receives nor is the problem with the solutions that have been bounced around. The one factor working against the citizens living in the Edison Local School District is time. If a new school was ever to be built, the school board has to be replaced with knowledgeable, hard working elected officials and then given the time to get out of the current dilemma and show that they are worthy enough to have more money thrown their way. Hmmm "knowledgeable, hard working elected officials" ever heard of one of them? NOPE! Of course the other "time" factor so to speak is the fact that the Edison School District has not passed a levy in how many years? 30 or so? Not a good track record if you ask me. Seems to me if the board was anywhere near useful and the public actually passed a levy then all this would be a non issue. The solution lies with the board and the people plain and simple.