Dover, Ohio - Dover school officials say they can't wait around for state lawmakers to approve additional funding if they want to save their schools.

Superintendent Carla Birney says the bi-partisan Cupp-Patterson school funding proposal could increase Dover’s state funding by about $2.9 million over a two-year period, but she says that's only if lawmakers approve it.

“This proposal is just an idea right now. It’s just a proposal. It does not have the funding to be implemented as proposed,” she says. “It has to make its way through the legislative process, and currently, there is opposition to this funding proposal forming.”

Birney says if approved, the proposal would not address the immediate need for additional funding to preserve programs and educational opportunities for Dover students. 

“It would be a great help to Dover schools, but we can’t afford to wait on a change at the state level or count on a change at the state level to save Dover schools. Our kids are too important, and what we do for them is way too important to say we’ll just wait to see what happens at the state level,” she says.

Birney says they need voters to approve their 6.9-mill emergency operating levy on May 7th to help them maintain Dover’s excellence in the short-term. The levy would generate just over $2.6 million annually for the district at a cost of around $20 a month to the owner of a $100,000 home. 

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