The Board of Trustees for The Tallmadge Chamber of Commerce strongly endorses the upcoming five-year operating levy for the Tallmadge City Schools on the November ballot.

The Tallmadge Chamber of Commerce is a group of 180 Tallmadge area businesses and non-profit organizations joined together to advance the local economy and business environment.

Here are several factors that have determined our support of this levy:

As business owners and executives we understand that in order for Tallmadge to continue to be a viable place to grow a business, it has to be a place where people aspire to live. We believe that strong schools are a critical component of this aspiration.

In my experience, no one questions the validity of higher taxes more than small business owners. As a whole, we hate the fact that school taxes are based upon real estate values. Many of us have homes and businesses in Tallmadge and will face tax increases on both. Most of us have retired clients and customers who live on fixed incomes and we know the financial difficulties that higher real estate taxes can bring and we sympathize. The fact that Ohio's School funding system is broken is not the fault of Tallmadge students, yet they are punished by lack of action in Columbus.

As business owners in a tough economic environment, we also were quick to question whether Tallmadge City Schools have done everything within their power to cut expenses. Our assessment is that they have done exactly that. Our schools are developing the strategies used by strapped urban school districts for years: larger classes, no aides, no field trips, limited bussing, and pay-to-play extracurricular activities. This is not an environment that most of us aspire to for Tallmadge.

As a community, we need to find a way to dig deep and view this levy as it is, a critical turning point in our city's future. A "Turning Point" is defined as
an event marking a unique or important historical change of course or one on which important developments depend. What development is more important than that of our kids and grandkids?

Keith Lucas
President
Tallmadge Chamber of Commerce