School levy campaigns begin tough work

LIMA — Convincing voters to support a school levy is always a battle, but schools today have a few more tools in their arsenals. School officials with issues on the March ballot hope Web pages, Facebook, blogs and other social media tactics help do the trick.“We'll have people using their own Facebook accounts and spreading the word,” Lima schools Superintendent Karel Oxley said. “That is a huge focus that we have not incorporated as strongly into our campaigns as we are choosing to do in this round.”The district has a five-year, 5.99-mill combined operating and permanent-improvement levy on the ballot. Volunteers have put together a levy Web page, www.limalevy.org. Social media also will play a part in levy promotions at Bath and New Bremen schools. Both have bond issues for building projects on the ballot. A Bath levy committee is also working on a website. It has a Facebook page with links to superintendent comments, a place to ask questions, and pictures and videos of the elementary school. The district needs a 37-year, 5.34-mills bond to build a new elementary school. The same levy went down a year ago.“Our strategy is to get the information out this time,” said Bryan Wallace, a Bath parent who is chairing the levy committee. “A lot of people felt the last time there was not enough communication and knowledge, not enough meetings held for the people to understand what the levy is about and what it is for.”The committee has scheduled a series of information meetings and tours of the elementary school. The first will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday. They will be held at varies times over the next several weeks with baby-sitting available. People can ask questions at the meetings The committee hopes getting people inside the building will help its cause. “I think this is big because there are so many people saying the building doesn't look like it is in bad shape,” Wallace said. “Until you get inside and see the floors leaning and walls cracked and boilers in such bad shape.”The committee is taking every opportunity to talk about the levy and show why a new school is needed. Volunteers hand out fliers at basketball games, where pictures of the building have been shown. A projector showed photos before a recent elementary play began.Lima schools established committees to tackle various parts of the campaign. One will handle yard signs, billboards and leaving information at every home in the district. One committee is responsible for sending letters and making phone calls. Another will handle voter registration, while another will educate people about voting by mail.Speakers will be out in full force in February, hitting service clubs, neighborhood associations, churches, Realtor groups and others. Speakers will include board members, community members, administrators and teachers, , Oxley said.“Whoever the group thinks would most connect to their people,” she said.Another committee will raise money for the campaign. A fundraiser is scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. Friday at the Met Place in downtown Lima). Businesses in the building will be involved. The event, including food, beverages and much levy information, is free, but donations will be accepted. There also will be an auction of Lima schools students' artwork.“We want the community to see the products of their tax investments,” Oxley said. The New Bremen levy committee is using the district's website and Facebook page to get the word out about its 33-year, 7.3-mill bond needed for a new kindergarten-through-eighth-grade building. Parent and committee co-Chairwoman Cathi Hall said officials are answering questions on the sites and refuting wrong information. “We are writing people back with the facts,” she said.The campaign strategy is all about the facts, Hall said. The committee is putting information out to show why the project makes financial sense. Even before deciding to get on the March ballot, the district invited the public into its buildings. “I think it is important for people to see hands on what is happening in our facility,” Hall said.Public meetings will be held in the middle school gymnasium, giving people another chance to see for themselves. Officials know they have their work cut out for them in the next month. They face a continued struggling economy and a recent history of districts having trouble gaining levy support across the state. Yet, they remain optimistic. “I believe that people support education, and I know this community wants to keep their investment and our properties and our buildings strong,” Oxley said. “We are counting on the community to step up and protect the investment they have already made.”