Task force plans united effort to pass school operating levy

This is a very exciting time for the city of St. Joseph. Our task force is made up of community members from all areas of town and from all walks of life. This diverse group has come together, debated the issues, disagreed, debated more and at the end of the day reached consensus on a recommendation that we presented to the St. Joseph School District Board of Education on June 22.

Our vision is for the administration, the board and the task force to work together to develop and implement a community–engineered, long–range plan. Collectively, we’ll listen to what the community wants of its public education and then, as a united front, work to deliver a plan that will fully fund education into the distant future and develop a timeline for building new schools. This is the long–range goal.

In the short term, the school district needs to keep the lights on, the teachers and staff paid and the buildings running. Therefore, we are prepared to run and fund a campaign to put a 63-cent operating levy, with a five–year sunset, on the November 2009 ballot.

It is important for the community to understand, no one on our task force believes funding public education in five–year increments is an effective method, nor do we believe 63 cents is enough to fully fund public education. However, we must listen to what voters said in the April 2009 election and believe the 63 cents with a sunset clause is necessary to see the operating levy pass.

With that said, our campaign message will be very clear: This 63-cent operating levy with a sunset is not the END to this discussion. It is instead, the BEGINNING.

In conjunction with the operating levy campaign, we’ll start soliciting input from voters on what they want from public education in St. Joseph. We believe through this process voters will begin to take ownership of the long–range plan, begin to trust its architects and have a newfound support for public education.

The campaign committee and the many, many volunteers it will enlist, will go door to door to answer questions and build support and along the way begin to frame the understanding that it is the community’s responsibility to fund public education. Our city’s future will be determined by the strength of our school system.

Please join us and be a positive force for public education in St. Joseph. You may contact our group via e-mail at stjofutureschools@gmail.com.

Scott Killgore,

on behalf of 32 participants on the Community Task Force