That question, and others, is posed on 25 billboards throughout greater Cincinnati.
The Michigan-based Education Action Group bought the billboard space in southwest Ohio as part of a public awareness campaign to highlight what it sees as wasteful spending by Ohio school districts.?? Earlier this year, EAG issued a report, Ohio Teacher Contracts: The Black Hole of School Spending, that lifted up areas of district spending related to personnel costs that EAG believes should be eliminated or scaled back???from excessive sick days to automatic step increases in salary.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that nearly one-third of the area's school districts are seeking local tax increases on the November 2 ballot.?? EAG's vice president Kyle Olson told the Enquirer:
We're not getting in the middle of tax levies or anything, but if the district is coming to you as a taxpayer asking for more money, or whatever the case may be, we're saying why don't you look at the way the districts are currently spending their money to make a decision about whether they need more. The public has to demand change. If the public doesn't demand change why should anything change.
You can see mock-ups of the four billboards here.
- Emmy Partin
