Vote 'yes' for CH-UH school levy

To the Editor:

I am writing to encourage voters in the CH-UH school district to vote for the levy that will be on the ballot on March 17. Our district is faced with suddenly losing millions of dollars due to last minute changes to the EdChoice voucher program inflicted by the state board of education.

In 2016, the state took 7 percent of our district’s state monies to use for private school scholarships. This school year, it took almost five times that—34.6 percent of our state dollars. Next year, that number will go up by nearly $3 million more. Then, almost 50 percent of our state allocated dollars will be used to pay for private school scholarships instead of funding CH-UH schools.

The money taken by EdChoice will affect every child in every building in the district. If this isn’t fixed, it will negatively impact our educational programming, class sizes, and our ability to attract quality teachers and professionals.

CH-UH is one of several local districts placing levies on the ballot in 2020. Passing this levy will allow our school system to stay intact.

As a community, fighting among us and against our schools is harmful to everyone. None of us is to blame for this funding problem, but we must work together to protect our community from the devastating impact losing this money will have.

Please vote for the passing of the CH-UH levy on the ballot in March, and contact your state representatives to request that they stop deducting EdChoice voucher payments from school district funds. Instead fund new vouchers from state funds directly.

Vote “Yes” for CH-UH school levy!

Christy Connor

Christy Connor
Cleveland Heights

Read More on Letters To The Editor
Volume 13, Issue 2, Posted 12:24 PM, 02.01.2020