DHS Senior says vote “Yes”

Dear Editor,

Having strong local schools is important for our community because it is our lifeline. Schools provide the foundation for our wellbeing by growing the number of people in our community, making our connections stronger, and promoting economic growth that benefits everyone. With strong public schools where investment in education and student empowerment is supported, more young families will move and settle in our town. As a result of this, the community, not just the school, will benefit by the families moving in generating economic growth for small businesses. This in turn builds a lifeline for small businesses in our downtown by providing a reliable and loyal consumer network and tightening the intricate fabric of our community. Families can depend on our affordable public schools to give their children a good education and prepare them for the future, giving them another reason to move to our wonderful community than just the large and small businesses that make up a large portion of our town's employed population.

In addition, families and citizens already residing in our community will benefit from their children getting the affordable public education they need through schools with increased investment from taxpayers. As a result, corporations and small businesses can continue operating in our town with a reliable and adequate workforce. Without strong schools, families already residing in our town will move out to find better opportunities elsewhere, where they can build a life without the problem of weak schools and declining businesses. This is damaging for everyone in our area. Without the young labor they need to operate from members of the community, businesses will shut down without enough workers and have many losses from a community where members moving out are not replaced by people moving in. 

On the surface, our school referendum ballot may just look like an increase in our property taxes, but there is so much more underneath that the ballot holds. From the foundation, base, and connection to the huge role it plays for everyone, this referendum helps maintain this system. With a "YES" on this referendum, our children will not just have the essential learning tools they need, but also have important funds to keep our school going. The main idea of this "operational referendum" is not to request for taxpayer funds to build new projects for our schools, but to rather simply "get our bills paid." These past years have been a struggle for the staff, students, and leadership of Dodgeville schools, who were forced to make drastic cuts that have significantly impacted everyone. Our schools have come to a point where there is just not enough room to make more cuts without severely impacting our schools that can bring long term impacts on everyone in our community. 

Our community has shown time and time again to be resilient, powerful, and emphatic for each other, and I have no doubt about that. This is a community that lined up in front of our incredibly popular Quality Bakery when they were at their last days of operation before sunrise to show their support. This is a community that came together to help build and distribute beds for children who were homeless, a powerful initiative that showed how much we care about each other's well being. Our community is more connected than we think, we never back down from our core values and what we stand for. With all of this said, I don't have much more to say than to ask you to remember the next time you go to the referendum ballot box, strong schools are not just a tax, but a lifeline for all of us and our children. Thank you."

Thank you,

Anish Jayapaul Premnaath

Class of 2026