In the past couple of years the Lakeview Bulldogs haven’t been able to pass a levy. A levy is a specified amount of money, such as a tax from another person or organization. In this case, every year there is a levy designed to gain money from the community and put it into the school system.
Lakeview has not been able to pass a levy in 12 years. This is starting to affect the functions of the school and limit courses. There are also many people in Cortland that didn’t vote on this subject.
Lakeview High School Principal, Lawrence Herrholtz expresses his understanding for why the levy was not passed, “Of course I’m disappointed the levy didn’t pass, but I understand that there are folks that may not understand the necessity of it, and there are also some folks that might not be able to afford some of it. My heart goes out in 3 different directions. I’m a public employee and we rely on tax dollars. I wish there was a better system than property taxes, I wish we could develop a system that was fair to all districts that didn’t ask their locals for so many dollars.”
Herrholtz emphasizes his love for the community when asked about future predictions , “I don’t have any predictions. We are a local school, we move with the community, we move with the community’s voice. What the community decides is the direction we typically go. We listen to our tax payers, we listen to our parents, and we listen to our board members and kind of move in those directions trying to make this place better for you guys.”
Herrholtz also has insight as to how the passage of a levy can benefit Lakeview schools. “Retention of employees would be number one. That’s probably the most important thing we have right now. One third of my staff is brand new, and putting high quality teachers in front of what I think are high quality kids and students is what makes for a great school. Mr. Detoro and myself try to find the best of the best and bring them to you. That’s what the passage would help us ensure. It would enable us to keep all programs under current pace. We’ve already lost some courses, we’ve lost some classes, and we’ve lost some people. This all unfortunately falls on the backs of property owners, and taxpayers. I wish we had a better system, but we don’t.”
Although levies have a poor system, they are still very crucial to keep the school running.
Lakeview Assistant Principal, Michael Detoro gives his opinion on the matter, “I am highly disappointed that we failed to pass the levy once again. The financial restraints that have been put on this district over the last few academic years have really affected the product that we can put out for the community. The people who are truly missing out are our students. Our curriculum, offerings, and experiences are nowhere near as vast as they were even a few short years ago. Our superintendent has some difficult decisions to make in terms of the 2024-2025 academic year and our overall budget.”
He as well as numerous others are very disappointed by the levy’s failure to be passed.
Detoro mentions how close the vote towards passing the levy is getting, “The overall gap has been lessened. We are now roughly 300 votes away from passing the levy for emergency money. I want to believe that we can get this levy passed next spring and hopefully stop some of the cuts that may have to take place.”
Detoro also talks about how the school will benefit from a levy being passed, “Passing a levy for new emergency funds will allow our district to remain the top academic-performing district in the county. Without those funds, I hate to think that we’ll be heading towards mediocrity. We simply will not be able to keep up with the other area districts that have the funding to accelerate into the 2030s.”
Lakeview guidance counselor, Caitlyn Schnurrenberger shares her opinion on the levies failure to be passed, “I was very disappointed when I saw the results of the levy not passing. Our students and school community deserve better. Our teachers, school counselors, administrators and support staff are very resilient and will continue working hard for our students although it is posing to be challenging as more and more responsibilities are delegated to keep Lakeview the progressive school district that it is.”
Schnurrenberger also spoke on her concerns if the levy isn’t passed next year, “I do not have any predictions, but only hope that the levy will pass. I am not sure what more can be cut from our school system and still operate to the high standard that Lakeview always has. For example, in the high school guidance department, previously we had three school counselors to service four grade levels and TCTC, now Lakeview has two school counselors to service five grade levels and TCTC. This is a huge disservice to our students.”
Schnurrenberger also has some hopes for the future, “A passed levy would hopefully allow for some of the supports, courses, resources and programs that have been stripped of the school to be reinstated, benefiting our students and ultimately our community.”
Overall Bulldogs would be very appreciative is a levy would be passed next year. It would allow Bulldog programs to continue and help out the schools finances.
