Dave Fallis, pictured, is leading the campaign to support a 6.6 mill, five-year emergency school levy for the Bethel-Tate Local School District.
By Megan Alley
Sun staff

The campaign to support a 6.6 mill, five-year emergency school levy for the Bethel-Tate Local School District is in full swing.

The levy, which will be on the presidential election ballot in November, is expected to generate about $1.1 million per year, which, according to Treasurer Karen Royer, will help the school district maintain “status quo.”

The levy will cost the owner of a home valued at $100,000 about $20 per month.

The Bethel-Tate Board of Education unanimously approved putting the levy to a public vote during its meeting on April 19. Shortly after, the campaign committee Tiger Pride Community Wide was formed.

A steering committee made up of Barb Leonard, board member, Melissa Kircher, superintendent, Jon Burns, director of operations, and a parent representative from each of the district’s four schools appointed Dave Fallis, the Bethel-Tate High School girls varsity basketball coach, to be chairperson of the committee.

The campaign has a volunteer committee of about 35 members, with a goal to reach 200. The campaign committee is also “aggressively” seeking donations from people and businesses in and outside the district, according to Fallis.

“Our goal is to have this community driven rather than driven by the administration,” he said.

He added, “Things have been going extremely well. As the weeks go by, we are reminded of how strong our district is; we see evidence of it every day. It’s made up of a lot of parents who are passionate about their kids’ education.”

Bethel has not passed a school operation levy since 1989. Since then, the school district opened an additional building, Bethel-Tate High School.

Currently, state funding makes up about 69 percent, or $10.2 million, of the school district’s budget. Local funding, with public utility contributions, makes up about 20.4 percent, or $3 million.

“We have 1,862 kids that are depending on us to pass this levy in November,” Fallis said. “We have been doing more with less than most districts in the state, and that is not sustainable. The need is real; this is something that has to be done.”

He added, “When you have strong schools, you are going to have strong communities.”

To learn more about the campaign committee Tiger Pride Community Wide, visit the group’s Facebook page or contact Fallis via email at dfallis@fuse.com or phone at 513-319-2210.

“We have to have an extreme sense of urgency here, especially with 125 days to the election,” he said.