Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

To the Editor:

I am a proud retired Charlotte County educator and I am asking for your “yes” vote on the tax referendum for schools which is on the ballot this fall.

I completed my career at Randolph-Henry High School. When RHHS was built in the early 1940s, it was a state-of-the-art school for that time. Just like everything in life, buildings need attention to maintain their appearance and usefulness. Everyday needs are being prioritized and completed now as best as the maintenance department employees can do with limited resources. Sooner than later, bigger repairs will need to be addressed and completed. In order to do this, funds will have to be appropriated to the School Board from the Board of Supervisors. This referendum is a sound answer to where the money can be acquired. Hopefully you have read the comments in our local newspapers throughout the last month from members of the small committee established to get out the vote for this referendum. Every article has coherently explained what this tax is all about. It is a penny tax added to every dollar spent by anyone shopping in Charlotte County for certain items.

This 1% or one penny tax on the dollar could generate as much as $300,000, or possibly more, each year to be used only for repairs and renovations of public schools in Charlotte County. The schools that will benefit from this additional 1% tax are Bacon Elementary, Eureka Elementary, Phenix Elementary, Central Middle School, and Randolph Henry High School.

Our schools need your help now. If you attended school in Charlotte County and you had a teacher who made a positive difference in your life, vote yes for this school referendum to pay it forward. If you had a coach who encouraged you to be the best you could be, vote yes for this school referendum to pay it forward. If you had any school employee go the extra mile to make your day special, vote yes for this school referendum to pay it forward. The children of Charlotte County need your support by voting yes for schools. Thank you for caring about our most precious resource – our children and their education. Your vote counts.

Gloria Talbott

Retired educator and

School Board member

Saxe