MORGANTOWN – It’s not another version of Renaissance Academy.
That’s what the Monongalia County Board of Education wants you to remember when you head to the polls for May’s primary election.
The district’s excess levy for education is up for renewal on that ballot.
It comes due every five years and voters here are traditionally generous – as they’ve more often than not said yes to a measure that in its current run is generating $35.6 million a year for district coffers.
Those are dollars that pay for school nurse salaries, student-issued Chromebook computers and all those foreign language and Advanced Placement courses that give Mon an academic extra over several of its neighbors across the state and region.
Dollars brought in by the levy make up more than 20% of the annual operating budget for the district, the BOE reminded people during its weather-abbreviated meeting Tuesday.
There’s one more thing, board members added.
One thing goes back to the aforementioned Renaissance Academy, which would have been West Virginia’s first standalone school for STEM – science, technology, engineering and math – had voters not overwhelmingly said no to the $142.6 million bond call during the primary two years ago.
The bond call then and the levy renewal now are two decidedly different things, the board said.
“We’re not bringing it back,” Superintendent Eddie Campbell Jr. said of the STEM school proposal, which had received unwavering support by the board and district.
All of the above is a key messaging point for the levy committee working to advance its mission across the district for voters.
Voters then thought the STEM school was too pricey, given their traditional tax support of the education levy, a trend that has spanned 50 years now.
Supporting the levy is critical for the continued academic fortunes of the district, said BOE member Jennifer Hagerty, who worked more than 20 years in Mon Schools as a teacher, program coordinator and vice principal.
“I’m hopeful, too, that a lot of the people who may not have wanted to go forward with the bond for the Renaissance Academy felt the levy was the most important place to put their money,” she said.
“This is the opportunity to stand behind that, for their kiddos.”
