COLUMBUS, OH – On October 4, NBC TV 4 reported that Andy Ginther supports the Columbus City Schools Issue 11 property tax levy without qualification. Ginther stated, "Dr. Chapman is a brilliant leader and we are going to do everything we can to make her successful. I am supporting the levy for three reasons. Teachers, kids, and community. We need to help the superintendent to be successful even if that means raising taxes. I choose education, I choose investment, I choose young people. I'm supporting this because I believe in the future of this city."
As mayor, Andy Ginther removed necessary funding to CCS with more than $600 million in tax abatements and additional millions as a City Council member. This loss in tax revenue directly resulted in far fewer resources to educate our children adequately let alone provide the necessary tools to support the dedicated teachers of our Columbus City Schools.
After spending the last 15 years actively defunding and therefore weakening the Columbus City Schools with tax abatements that only benefit private interests, he now endorses an unprecedented electoral proposition to raise property taxes on all residents, regardless of our means.
Ginther supports this proposition specifically at the time when the county auditor’s office performs its reappraisal of property values, and therefore taxes, and the cost of rents and home sales are skyrocketing. He ignores community opposition to CCSs levy across the city especially from those less able to pay higher taxes, including minorities and senior citizens.
As usual, Ginther ignores the continually declining state of the public schools. He sends his own daughter to the private Wellington School that most Columbus residents cannot afford. He refuses to recognize that Superintendent Chapman and Board Chair Adair have no specific plans or actual proposals for how they will use the exorbitant property taxes funds. They do not have the confidence of the Columbus community.
Andy Ginther attended CCS himself, but has turned his back on the district in favor of supporting private developers and corporations. Endorsing another tax on Columbus residents in order to draw attention away from more than a decade of bleeding our schools dry in order to fill his own campaign coffers is an obvious, self-serving choice for Andy.
As we see the spikes of juvenile violence across our city, make no mistake that these are a result of a lack of resources for our children that originate with Ginther and his administration.
I'm proud that my two children both graduated from Columbus City Schools. A top priority for my administration is to support our teachers’ union's request to stop giving away the property tax dollars meant to help educate our children and that make our community strong.
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