Paid Advertising TO THE QUAKER VALLEY SCHOOL BOARD, Our community is keenly attuned to the need for excellence in education. Our community understands the need to improve our high school facility. And, our community wants our School Board to deliver an improved high school facility. We urge the School Board to involve the community. That is: Declare a plan for a referendum on the high school facilities We truly appreciate the hard work of our School Board members. But, as taxpayers, we are stunned to learn that we plan and consequential debt increase, and do so early in 2020. will have NO vote on the School Board's funding plan for a new high school facility. While the Board is addressing the high school facilities issue, they don't intend a referendum vote on the burdening of Qv taxpayers with new supporting debt and Specifically, issue no more debt without the approval of the taxpayers. Make available to the public via the District's website, the details of the considerations and studies including renovation cost estimates, new construction cost estimates, the pros and cons of the various alternatives considered, and copies of increased school taxes. Until recently learning more about the School Board's plan, we taxpayers assumed that we would be given the opportunity to vote. expert and consultant report. We deserve to know what the School Board knows. Establish a blue-ribbon committee of "experts" residing in our community-individuals recognized as skilled educators, We simply don't know what high school facility alternatives have been considered. Why can't the Leetsdale-located high school be renovated? Why spend so much money on a hilltop site presenting issues such as safe access, construction of new roads, complicated and restrictive zoning regulations, transportation considerations, impact on the village and others? And, what less developers, builders, architects, financiers and project managers-and charge them with assisting the School Board in evaluating the alternatives. Finally, before embarking on any plan, establish a reasonable budget that no undertaking can exceed-et the budget drive the plan rather than the reverse. expensive and more accessible sites were considered and rejected? Ours is no casual concern. The School Board has already spent In sum, we want to help the School Board to develop a plan more than $10 million on an il-defined plan with many for the high school facility that will be both economically logical contingencies and issues on the site remaining, and further and quickly completed. We believe that the development plans of approved the issuance of approximately $10 million of new debt our high school facilities should be more democratic, more adding to the $56 million of debt already outstanding. From School Board notes we see a plan leading to a $100 million+ outlay to educate a small high school student body, averaging path forward that will create harmony and excitement for our about 150 students per grade! We see real estate taxes high school plan and its future. relentlessly increasing to the detriment of our older residents, as well as to our home values. Our concern is exacerbated by the engaging of our community, and more fiscally responsible than what was represented in the recent offering statement. This is a Sincerely, Citizens for a Great School fact that QV's school spending increased at twice the rate of inflation over the last 25 years. Consequently, our district spends about $27,000 per student- FIFTY PERCENT more A non-partisan group of hundreds of residents from Quaker Valley School District. To join our group or for questions email citizensforagreatschool@gmail.com than the $18,000 per student reported by western PA's top 10 public school districts. Paid Advertising TO THE QUAKER VALLEY SCHOOL BOARD, Our community is keenly attuned to the need for excellence in education. Our community understands the need to improve our high school facility. And, our community wants our School Board to deliver an improved high school facility. We urge the School Board to involve the community. That is: Declare a plan for a referendum on the high school facilities We truly appreciate the hard work of our School Board members. But, as taxpayers, we are stunned to learn that we plan and consequential debt increase, and do so early in 2020. will have NO vote on the School Board's funding plan for a new high school facility. While the Board is addressing the high school facilities issue, they don't intend a referendum vote on the burdening of Qv taxpayers with new supporting debt and Specifically, issue no more debt without the approval of the taxpayers. Make available to the public via the District's website, the details of the considerations and studies including renovation cost estimates, new construction cost estimates, the pros and cons of the various alternatives considered, and copies of increased school taxes. Until recently learning more about the School Board's plan, we taxpayers assumed that we would be given the opportunity to vote. expert and consultant report. We deserve to know what the School Board knows. Establish a blue-ribbon committee of "experts" residing in our community-individuals recognized as skilled educators, We simply don't know what high school facility alternatives have been considered. Why can't the Leetsdale-located high school be renovated? Why spend so much money on a hilltop site presenting issues such as safe access, construction of new roads, complicated and restrictive zoning regulations, transportation considerations, impact on the village and others? And, what less developers, builders, architects, financiers and project managers-and charge them with assisting the School Board in evaluating the alternatives. Finally, before embarking on any plan, establish a reasonable budget that no undertaking can exceed-et the budget drive the plan rather than the reverse. expensive and more accessible sites were considered and rejected? Ours is no casual concern. The School Board has already spent In sum, we want to help the School Board to develop a plan more than $10 million on an il-defined plan with many for the high school facility that will be both economically logical contingencies and issues on the site remaining, and further and quickly completed. We believe that the development plans of approved the issuance of approximately $10 million of new debt our high school facilities should be more democratic, more adding to the $56 million of debt already outstanding. From School Board notes we see a plan leading to a $100 million+ outlay to educate a small high school student body, averaging path forward that will create harmony and excitement for our about 150 students per grade! We see real estate taxes high school plan and its future. relentlessly increasing to the detriment of our older residents, as well as to our home values. Our concern is exacerbated by the engaging of our community, and more fiscally responsible than what was represented in the recent offering statement. This is a Sincerely, Citizens for a Great School fact that QV's school spending increased at twice the rate of inflation over the last 25 years. Consequently, our district spends about $27,000 per student- FIFTY PERCENT more A non-partisan group of hundreds of residents from Quaker Valley School District. To join our group or for questions email citizensforagreatschool@gmail.com than the $18,000 per student reported by western PA's top 10 public school districts.