Looking for Truth in Onaway

  You might feel bombarded by millage information by now, but in case you're not yet up to your eyeballs, here's my explanation.       WHAT IS IT? The millage ( rate of taxation expressed in mills per dollar) on the August 6 ballot is OPERATING money. It's what we pay to keep the doors open at the school. It's nothing new, nothing more than what the state requires all communities to pay. WHO PAYS? In Michigan, millage is NOT charged on your home property. That's what "non-homestead" means. WHAT IF IT FAILS? We won't get foundation money from the state. Our per-pupil funding will drop  significantly. We probably won't have things like sports and other extra-curricular activities, might not have bussing, might have upper grades doing on-line and only elementary kids in (overcrowded) classrooms. WHAT WOULD I LIKE YOU TO KNOW? What you hear/see about the school board should have no bearing on your vote. Students need teachers, textbooks, and electric

 Last night, I went to a meeting where a group of citizens, many of them from the "Old Teachers" group, learned about our upcoming millage. We tossed around ideas for clarifying to the public what the millage is for and why it's important that voters support it. We heard from a man who recently ran a successful campaign in another school district. It was informative and important. Apparently, my leaving home after the dinner hour was an Event of Interest to local keyboard warriors, and to be honest, it's not something I do often, so I'll share with you what I learned . --Onaway Area Schools has a millage vote on August 6th. It's not for new stuff. It's to keep the doors open. It's not unusual . All Michigan school districts MUST levy 18 mills on non-homestead property to receive their full foundation allowance. -- Millage is the operating money a school gets from taxes. A failure of this millage vote would send our per-pupil funding from $9608 to $3