SCHOOL NEED A 'YES' VOTE ON IMPROVEMENTS

Niagara Falls Reporter

SCHOOL NEED A 'YES' VOTE ON IMPROVEMENTS
In simple terms, there may be no more important vote in Niagara Falls in the future than the referendum coming up Sept. 25 when the fate of city schools will ride on the outcome. Last year, voters incredibly said no to $130 million in no-strings attached state dollars to fix up city schools, a bitter disappointment to a struggling district and its leader, Supt. Cynthia Bianco. Now Supt. Bianco and the district will try again to convince voters of the need to vote yes on a new, scaled-down $55 million referendum to cover the essential capital improvements and safety issues at 13 school buildings or else the burden could fall on city taxpayers. It is hard to understand how voters could have said no to $130 million in state money for the schools, but they did. Now the challenge for the district is to get the message out to voters what’s at stake and how a “no” vote could come back to haunt them in the form of higher local taxes because the school improvements need to take place. “We will go anywhere, one on one or to a group of people, so that accurate information goes out,” says Supt. Bianco. “We have sought out the ways to fund this most economically for the taxpayers of Niagara Falls with a 100 percent pay back. And that is with 88 percent reimbursement on capital projects, adding 10 percent on to that because we are a high needs district, giving us 98 percent reimbursement on every dollar spent… then there is the other 2 percent being taken care of from the Excel Grant which we have in place.” The formula does not require even a calculator to understand. The district will recover 100 percent of the costs to fix up the schools—at least minimally in the scaled-down version-- if at least 60 percent of the voters support the new referendum on Sept. 25th. We here at the reporter are hopeful that the district will get the message out and that voters will ultimately realize that a “yes” vote to fix up the schools will not cost them money and a “no” vote most likely will hit them in the pocketbook. We strongly support passage of the new referendum and we will continue to work hard to inform the public of what the consequences are if this referendum is not approved. Who in their right mind could against accepting state aid to make capital, safety, and other much-needed improvements to our schools. (Next week photos of the schools)

In simple terms, there may be no more important vote in Niagara Falls in the future than the referendum coming up Sept. 25 when the fate of city schools will ride on the outcome.

Last year, voters incredibly said no to $130 million in no-strings attached state dollars to fix up city schools, a bitter disappointment to a struggling district and its leader, Supt. Cynthia Bianco.

Now Supt. Bianco and the district will try again to convince voters of the need to vote yes on a new, scaled-down $55 million referendum to cover the essential capital improvements and safety issues at 13 school buildings or else the burden could fall on city taxpayers.

It is hard to understand how voters could have said no to $130 million in state money for the schools, but they did. Now the challenge for the district is to get the message out to voters what’s at stake and how a “no” vote could come back to haunt them in the form of higher local taxes because the school improvements need to take place.

“We will go anywhere, one on one or to a group of people, so that accurate information goes out,” says Supt. Bianco. “We have sought out the ways to fund this most economically for the taxpayers of Niagara Falls with a 100 percent pay back. And that is with 88 percent reimbursement on capital projects, adding 10 percent on to that because we are a high needs district, giving us 98 percent reimbursement on every dollar spent… then there is the other 2 percent being taken care of from the Excel Grant which we have in place.”

The formula does not require even a calculator to understand. The district will recover 100 percent of the costs to fix up the schools—at least minimally in the scaled-down version-- if at least 60 percent of the voters support the new referendum on Sept. 25th.

We here at the reporter are hopeful that the district will get the message out and that voters will ultimately realize that a “yes” vote to fix up the schools will not cost them money and a “no” vote most likely will hit them in the pocketbook.

We strongly support passage of the new referendum and we will continue to work hard to inform the public of what the consequences are if this referendum is not approved. Who in their right mind could against accepting state aid to make capital, safety, and other much-needed improvements to our schools.

(Next week photos of the schools)

Niagara Falls Reporter www.niagarafallsreporter.com June 12 , 2012