Offer of support for a Levy in May 2023

Last week, our organization sent an email extending an offer to the board to meet and engage in a strategy to pass a levy, beginning with ideas on levy structure and ways to regain community trust. To date, we have not heard back. Our intent is this: We desire a healthy District, and we are willing to partner with the board to pass a levy and hope the community will also rise to the occasion. We do not intend to stop the important oversight of the boards’ actions; we believe it is the only thing that has helped the community have visibility and enabled residents to provide their voices to encourage the board to arrive at the conclusion to consider a levy. We hope to hear back from Board President Hausfeld, but we will proceed as we see fit if the board chooses not to accept our olive branch on this shared vision of passing a successful levy.

Dear FHSD Administration & Members of the Board, 
   
On behalf of the board of FHSD, we would like to convey our support of a levy for the district to be on the ballot in May of 2023.
   
We observe however, that our approach to support district excellence by providing community oversight has made our relationship with the board and administration a difficult one to navigate, and we understand the challenge that proceeding together may pose. 

We believe it is imperative for the success of a levy that we find common ground to execute a reasonable and community-supported path to reinforcing the on-going financial solvency of Forest Hills.

Community trust with the board was never high, but it is at an all-time low at the moment. To pass a levy, a bridge to span the gap likely needs to begin with us; the first step is for Advocate FHSD to offer our willingness to the board to discuss ways we can provide support for intentional actions by the district leaders to restore trust with the community to lay the foundation of work to pass a levy for the Forest Hills School District in 2023. 

Building trust is an act of humility, and one we recognize will not come at a cost somewhere else.  Humility is a pure demonstration of courage as one acknowledges a problem exists and then takes steps to address it through reasonable means with authentic intent. 

We would like to meet with the Superintendent and the Board President to discuss ways to collaborate on ideas of how we might help the board pass levy once some good faith efforts by the board are made, through a stronger communication strategy & a few conciliatory moves. 

For reference of how else we might assist, we share here informal gathered feedback which we openly share here from a large and engaged portion of our resident population to guide our recommendations. A recent survey posted on Facebook suggests these three options have the most support:
 

1.  A levy of no more than 8 mills over 3 years (see estimated millage table reference)
   1. Structure … 6+ mills for operations, <2 mills for Permanent Improvement fund
   2.  8 mills is around $23/month for every $100K of home value
   3. Inflation expected to settle, lower costs with a high millage could extend levy to 4 yrs+
   4. 67% of respondents in the first 24 hours supported this

 

1. A 5-year levy of 10+ mills … 
   1. 6-7 mills operating fund and 3+ as Permanent improvement
   2. Approximately $29/month for every $100K of home value
   3. Could see wide variation in out years due to risky forecasting beyond 36 months
   4. received 27% of the votes in the first 24 hours

 

1. A 2-year levy of ~5 mills … 
   1. 3.5 mills of operating fund and 1.5 mills of operations
   2. Brings $5.25M of additional operations, and $2.25M of permanent improvement
   3. Buys time for inflation to settle & costs to come down
   4. Received 6% of respondent support in the first 24 hours

 
Once the effort to restore trust is underway, we believe that presenting options for a levy aligned to the community’s support is the only reasonable way for this district to proceed, and hope to assist if you are willing to partner to do so.  
 
We look forward to hearing from you, 
Sincerely, the board at Advocate FHSD

-----------

Thank you for advocating with us!

Sincerely, 
Advocate FHSD