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It’s time to invest in our schools, vote yes

I would like to encourage everyone to vote on March 10. Some people feel their vote doesn’t matter, but in this election we will consider a very important local issue that will impact OUR community and affect the education of OUR children for years to come. We will decide if we plan to support the APS 0-mill increase that will provide much-needed funding to replace roofs and boilers and provide security upgrades at buildings across our school district. We will decide if we have an obligation to provide our children an environment that is warm, safe and dry to learn in.

Many people don’t know that the state considers school buildings to be local property. They provide funding to operate our schools yearly. However, they consider projects like replacing a roof or a boiler after the useful life of that product has come to an end to be the responsibility of the community that owns those buildings. It can only happen when voters decide that they will vote to support the investment in the buildings we own. We as a community made our most recent investment in our buildings in 1996. As I am approaching 50, that was about half of my life ago. Picture yourself in 1996, phones were still attached to the wall, most still hadn’t accessed the internet using AOL dial-up and gas cost $1.23 a gallon. It’s time to reinvest.

To my fellow parents, grandparents and others raising children, if we want this for our children we must show up to vote. Last election only 27% of parents in our community voted. Our children will be the most impacted by the decision we make next. I’m voting to keep the kids in our community warm, safe and dry and I hope our community does the same.

LEE FITZPATRICK,

Alpena

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