After a recent community survey of voter attitudes, the Midview School Board voted unanimously in July to put a 2.5 mill Permanent Improvement levy on the ballot for the November elections. Passage of this levy will make it possible for Midview to maintain a quality education for all students. The hard work of our teachers and students has been paying off, and our students are accomplishing great things in and out of the classroom. The Midview School District is a vital part of our community that provides an educated workforce and helps our children compete nationally and globally.

Midview has been doing all it can to maintain quality education for our students, however, the current school funding system keeps our district’s revenue flat while costs of daily operations and classroom materials continually increase. The district has been fiscally responsible and has cut more than one million dollars over the past two years—Midview has the lowest instructional spending per student in the county.

Even so, these actions have not been able to keep up with the rising costs of operations and materials, and further reductions threaten our classrooms. The Midview Schools are asking voters to approve a 2.5 mill levy that will stave off these difficult cuts and allow us to keep the programs, teachers, and technology our kids need to succeed. The funds would also help us maintain our schools, including the deteriorating middle school, and help us replace aging buses.

Without more funds, the district will need to cut an additional million dollars from the already bare bones budget. The Board has been meeting over the past few weeks to determine what cuts will be made if the levy does not pass in the Fall.  Since the district is already spending the least out of any district in the county, these cuts will devastate our schools and impact our community. It’s no secret that strong schools help keep property values from dropping, but more importantly, local employers need an educated workforce to succeed.

As we work toward November we will be reaching out to residents to make sure community members understand the needs of our schools and the importance of quality education to our community.