MORGANTOWN – Early voting begins Wednesday for the May primary in Monongalia County, and one group of proponents is hoping you’ll school yourself on a very specific measure on the ballot – one it says could mean everything for your child’s future.
The county’s excess levy for education is again up for renewal this go-around.
It’s been on the books here since 1973 and traditionally passes overwhelmingly at the polls. It comes due every five years.
The current levy generates some $35.6 million annually for the district, allowing it to offer Advanced Placement courses, extracurricular activities and all the academic amenities, backers say, that make Mon Schools, well, Mon Schools.
Marketing kicked up in earnest last February when the nonprofit Community for Monongalia Schools was formed with the sole objective of keeping the education levy – and its renewal thereof – in the collective mind of parents and everyone else before votes are cast.
Which means, the committee said, of simply reminding residents of the heavy lifting the levy does daily in classrooms, rehearsal spaces, science labs and playing fields in schools across Morgantown and Monongalia.
“Our schools are the heartbeat of the community,” said Rebecca Aranda, who co-chairs the committee and whose children are enrolled here.
“We see evidence of that in the excellent education statistics, high property values, vibrant arts and afterschool programs,” she said.
Graduates of Mon’s schools excel in college in West Virginia, the Ivy League and across oceans, the co-chair continued.
School counselors and nurses have their salaries paid courtesy of the levy, which also funds the purchase of the Chromebook laptop computers integral to classrooms and the intellectual experience.
Around $175,000 is allocated to school media centers and libraries under the current levy, to go with the $250,000 set aside for music and arts programs in Mon.
Rates will remain the same from the current document to the new document.
The BOE moved earlier this month in the affirmative for 33.50 cents per $100 of assessed value for Class II properties, which are owner-occupied homes.
Same for Class III properties — which are not used or occupied by the owner and are outside a municipality — and Class IV, the same as Class III but within a municipality.
Both sets of rates will stay where they currently are, at 67 cents per $100.
Meanwhile, voters in 2024 did something they normally don’t do, related to the county and education.
They said no, overwhelmingly, to the $142.6 million bond to build the Renaissance Academy which would have been Mon’s first standalone STEM school – focusing exclusively on science, technology, engineering and math.
It was too pricey, they said.
The county technical education center already fits that bill, they said.
And, they said, they traditionally renew the excess levy for education, which takes care of everything else.
Board of Education member Jennifer Hagerty, who had 20 years in Mon Schools as a teacher and vice principal, is banking on residents to do the same this time around.
“I’m hopeful that a lot of the people who may not have wanted to come forward with the bond for the Renaissance Academy felt the levy was the most important place to put their money,” she said.
“This is an opportunity to stand behind that, for their kiddos.”
