In this Special Episode Lucas and Kimberlee sat down with Brunswick Board of Education President Mary Weinhauer to ask the questions submitted by members of the You Know You're From Brunswick If... Facebook group. The goal was to dispel any myths and provide answers and information so residents can make an informed voting decision. Thank you for taking the time to watch and for being an engaged community member. Please share this episode with anyone who may have a vested interest in this topic.
[00:00:00] Welcome everyone, this is another special episode of Brunswick Group Therapy and we are
[00:00:25] back at the bat studios with my cohort Lucas and joining us today School Board member Mary
[00:00:31] Weinhower, she's here to answer all your questions about the levy we've been asking
[00:00:36] you guys for the last couple of weeks for your questions so we have them here and we're
[00:00:38] going to fire them away at Mary here.
[00:00:42] Thanks.
[00:00:43] Before we start, I'll do my best.
[00:00:45] I'll tell you a little about how long you've been on the school board.
[00:00:49] Sure, I have been a member of the school board for a little over six years so I'm in my
[00:00:55] second term like halfway through my second term.
[00:01:00] You forgot to talk about how much you like it and how much I do like it.
[00:01:05] I do like it.
[00:01:06] I do like it.
[00:01:07] I really do like it especially when I get to spend time in the last room.
[00:01:10] So let's just jump right into it.
[00:01:13] People have a lot of questions and we need to clarify some things and inform people
[00:01:18] of stuff so Lucas and I were reviewing these questions and we keep seeing the words emergency
[00:01:23] levy.
[00:01:24] We see it a lot and can you define emergency levy for us as we go forward through this
[00:01:30] that might make a little bit more sense because I don't think it's what even I thought originally
[00:01:35] an emergency levy was so.
[00:01:37] Right.
[00:01:38] How is it to define it for us?
[00:01:39] It's a horrible way to name these levies, horrible.
[00:01:44] Everything is on fire.
[00:01:45] There is no emergency.
[00:01:47] The state chooses that name.
[00:01:49] We didn't get to choose it.
[00:01:51] We would not have chosen that name.
[00:01:53] All it means is that it is for a fixed dollar amount, for a fixed finite time period.
[00:02:00] So for issue six that would be $3.2 million per year for 10 years.
[00:02:05] That's it.
[00:02:06] That's the emergency.
[00:02:07] It's not an emergency.
[00:02:09] And then for issue six this is an emergency renewal levy.
[00:02:14] So that's another term that people are struggling with.
[00:02:17] This is a renewal of a levy that was passed in 1994, originally passed for new money in
[00:02:25] 1994 and so at that time it raised $3.2 million for the school district every year and
[00:02:31] it has been renewed multiple times over the past 30 years.
[00:02:35] So now it's up for renewal again and we're asking the voters to continue this levy.
[00:02:40] Got it.
[00:02:41] Great.
[00:02:42] So I read in one of the comments of the questions that because it's a renewal, it's protected
[00:02:48] against certain things that at some point in time there was a change in how levies operate
[00:02:55] and if it's renewed now there's some savings or things that would be different if we didn't
[00:03:02] renew it and then we asked for it again later.
[00:03:04] Did you explain that?
[00:03:05] Correct.
[00:03:06] So we have this levy is going to lapse like the time period that we voters approved it for
[00:03:13] is about to come up.
[00:03:15] If we don't renew this levy within this calendar year, we will lose a 12 and a half percent
[00:03:22] state tax credit.
[00:03:24] On your tax bill you'll see a line item and it may be lumped in with other tax credits
[00:03:30] but they're in your bill you do see tax credits.
[00:03:34] One of those credits is this, for this levy.
[00:03:37] So anything that was passed for new money, any levy that was passed for new money before
[00:03:42] November of 2013 which obviously this was 1994.
[00:03:47] This qualifies homeowners, not business owners unfortunately, but homeowners get a 12 and
[00:03:54] a half percent tax credit back for what they pay for this particular levy.
[00:04:00] If we don't pass it, we will lose that tax credit because the levy itself will have
[00:04:06] lapsed.
[00:04:07] And then any levy after 2013 would not have any credits?
[00:04:12] Correct.
[00:04:13] Okay.
[00:04:14] I didn't know that.
[00:04:15] So we'll be paying more as taxpayers will be paying more.
[00:04:19] You know that $3.2 million, we don't ask for money unless we need the money right?
[00:04:24] Built into our budget, about 4 percent of our budget.
[00:04:27] So eventually we're going to have to ask for that, to fill that void of that $3.2 million
[00:04:36] or $32 million over 10 years.
[00:04:39] So if we were to do that, we would be paying more as taxpayers to make up that same amount
[00:04:47] of $3.2 million.
[00:04:48] Right.
[00:04:50] So what was this levy specifically originally?
[00:04:53] What was it for and is it still being used for the same thing once it's renewed?
[00:04:58] Yes, so that's part of the renewal.
[00:05:00] We can't renew a levy unless we're using it for the same thing.
[00:05:04] And it was originally passed for operational dollars.
[00:05:08] You know it pays things like our salaries, that's the biggest thing that it pays because
[00:05:13] we are a service organization right?
[00:05:15] So we pay people to provide a service, really important service by the way.
[00:05:22] So it pays salaries, it pays for electricity, it pays for HVAC, it pays for supplies,
[00:05:29] it pays for our curriculum.
[00:05:33] It's vital to running the district, it's literally the operational dollars that we use.
[00:05:39] Sure.
[00:05:40] Next one, what do you got?
[00:05:42] And obviously because of the price of inflation, the need isn't going to go down unless certain
[00:05:51] things happen.
[00:05:52] You know you're always going to need that money going forward I feel.
[00:05:58] What are the plans for economic recession?
[00:06:01] Plans have shifted to more overhead administration with higher salaries.
[00:06:04] The value in the schools is the teachers are you planning to reduce overhead?
[00:06:08] Okay, so what are the plans for economic recession?
[00:06:13] So we have really, really smart people, way smarter than I am who really do run this district.
[00:06:20] And our Treasury Department has received multiple awards year after year after year as being
[00:06:25] the best of the best in the state of Ohio at handling public funds.
[00:06:31] Part of that job is to create a five-year forecast which is readily available to the public
[00:06:36] you know right?
[00:06:37] I see it.
[00:06:38] Yeah, it's on our website so please go ahead and look at it.
[00:06:42] That is our plan for recession right?
[00:06:45] That shows what we're going to do with our budget that we you know what our plans are but
[00:06:51] also where we would go should something happen.
[00:06:55] And another piece of that is and people don't like to hear this but a reserve right?
[00:07:02] We have a cash reserve on hand that is necessary in case of emergency like a recession or like
[00:07:09] a government shutdown if the state decided hey we're shutting down, we're stuck halting
[00:07:15] all payments.
[00:07:16] We can still pay our employees because we have that cash reserve.
[00:07:20] Try it.
[00:07:21] And I think when I reviewed that there were some lines in there that you planned on spending
[00:07:25] less on over the next year or two and that.
[00:07:29] We're always looking for ways to save money.
[00:07:32] Always.
[00:07:33] So continuing with money this question is how much money will Brunswick schools receive
[00:07:39] from the state lottery?
[00:07:40] Oh my goodness.
[00:07:42] You'd be surprised at how often I get this question.
[00:07:48] I don't like, you know what a shell game is?
[00:07:52] Oh yeah, yeah.
[00:07:53] That's what I think of when I think about this question.
[00:07:56] So I think it was about 50 years ago.
[00:07:59] It's when this started, when the public was sold on this idea of lottery funding schools.
[00:08:07] Yes we do get money from the lottery but it is not separated as a line item that comes
[00:08:14] from the money from the state.
[00:08:16] So 50 years ago when this was implemented I would be willing to bet that there was no
[00:08:22] bump in the amount of money that came from the state.
[00:08:28] It was just sort of shifted.
[00:08:30] Do you know what I'm saying?
[00:08:32] So we do get, technically we do get money from the state but it was, we still get the
[00:08:40] same amount of money from the state.
[00:08:42] From the years ago.
[00:08:43] Well not from 50 years ago but from their budget.
[00:08:45] Got it.
[00:08:46] Okay.
[00:08:47] So it's kind of offset.
[00:08:48] I see.
[00:08:49] So you get money from the lottery but the state doesn't give anymore, they just give their
[00:08:55] less portion.
[00:08:56] Correct.
[00:08:57] I understand.
[00:08:58] You got it.
[00:08:59] I wish I understood better.
[00:09:01] Yeah.
[00:09:02] But it answers the question.
[00:09:04] That's what we're here for.
[00:09:05] So.
[00:09:06] This question wasn't, I think you already answered it but is this the renewal levy in issue
[00:09:09] six?
[00:09:10] If so, it is strange that it is still an emergency dating back to 2009.
[00:09:15] Right.
[00:09:16] Like we said, nothing is on fire.
[00:09:18] It is not an emergency.
[00:09:20] It's just that it's that fixed amount which you know it's $3.2 million.
[00:09:25] Isn't that easier to understand as a taxpayer than well it's going to cost you maybe this
[00:09:31] much.
[00:09:32] We're telling you flat out it's $3.2 million and like we talked about before it was $3.2
[00:09:39] million back in 94.
[00:09:41] That's 30 years of economic development and growth in our city.
[00:09:47] So there were fewer homes, fewer businesses that were paying that $3.2 million, 30 years
[00:09:54] ago.
[00:09:55] Now we're all paying a little bit less because there are so many more houses and so
[00:09:58] many more businesses.
[00:10:00] So I think that's really important for us to get out there and to reiterate is the fact
[00:10:05] that it's not an increase.
[00:10:08] Not an increase.
[00:10:09] Because if anything you're paying less now for this levy than you were when it was first
[00:10:14] past 30 years ago because you're sharing that with other all the new houses that have
[00:10:20] come in and all that.
[00:10:22] And back at the beginning it was still $3.2 million and it's still $3.2 million.
[00:10:26] It doesn't go up or down how much the school receives based on home cost or home property
[00:10:34] or valuations.
[00:10:35] Right, those fluctuate but this will always be the $3.2 million.
[00:10:40] Okay.
[00:10:41] Right.
[00:10:42] So next question is why do we need this renewal when we were sold on the new centralized
[00:10:48] and middle school saving operational costs?
[00:10:50] Sure.
[00:10:51] So the middle school condensing into three to one middle school saved us money.
[00:11:04] But it did not save us $3.2 million per year.
[00:11:08] So think about our, like I talked about, we're a service industry, right?
[00:11:15] The bulk of our funds, the bulk of what we as taxpayers pay to the city of the Brunswick
[00:11:22] City School District, 84% of that approximately goes to salaries and benefits for our employees.
[00:11:31] So every dollar that you give us 84 cents of it goes right back to our employees.
[00:11:36] Well, it should, right?
[00:11:38] Yes, that's right.
[00:11:39] Because we're a service, they're providing that service for our students.
[00:11:43] So when you look at 84%, that's pretty fixed because we still have the same number of
[00:11:51] students that went from three middle schools to one.
[00:11:54] We still needed the same number of staff members to help those students for the most part, right?
[00:11:59] So we didn't have any cuts there where we could cut, where our utilities are HVAC.
[00:12:06] We've become much more efficient in that.
[00:12:10] But that's still only that 16% sliver of our budget where there was any wiggle room to
[00:12:15] cut and it's not $3.2 million.
[00:12:19] So where you see the cost savings in that consolidation is that, and unfortunately,
[00:12:28] that schools are funded in the state of Ohio.
[00:12:33] We get a sliver of our budget from the federal government.
[00:12:37] We get about 40% of our budget from the state.
[00:12:42] And then 60% of it falls on local taxpayers, right?
[00:12:46] So until Ohio does something different, we're still going to have to fund that 60%.
[00:12:58] So the savings from that will really come in us as a school board stretching the time period
[00:13:06] that we would have to come back to voters for a new money.
[00:13:11] Does that make sense?
[00:13:12] Yeah.
[00:13:13] When do you expect to come back?
[00:13:15] So some people are like, didn't we just do this?
[00:13:20] Yeah.
[00:13:21] Yeah, we did.
[00:13:22] And these wrinkles are from this.
[00:13:24] So, ballot fatigue is a real thing.
[00:13:28] We don't really want to be on the ballot anymore than we have to.
[00:13:32] But it's kind of multiple facets to this, right?
[00:13:37] The City of Brunswick doesn't really love the idea of continuous lobbies.
[00:13:45] Those would be on a certain village and it would be in perpetuity forever, right?
[00:13:52] That doesn't sound really good to me.
[00:13:54] Yeah, I like that.
[00:13:55] Yes.
[00:13:56] So that's why we do the renewals, right?
[00:13:58] Because it's a checks and balances for our voters, right?
[00:14:02] It's a lot more work for people like me, but it is worth it because it allows our voters
[00:14:09] to say, okay, yep, they're still being good fiscal stewards with my money.
[00:14:14] And so I will renew this one.
[00:14:19] When we're going to be next on the ballot, the next scheduled time would be 2028 and it
[00:14:28] would be for a renewal.
[00:14:30] So not for new money.
[00:14:32] But again, not raising taxes in a renewal.
[00:14:35] You're just saying, okay, you're doing a good job.
[00:14:40] I want to clarify that we get 40% of our budget from the state.
[00:14:45] At any moment, the state could come in and say, ooh, we're going to change things up.
[00:14:49] You're not making that much money anymore.
[00:14:51] We're not giving you that much money anymore.
[00:14:53] So we always want to be really careful saying we're not coming back to you for new money.
[00:14:59] We don't have complete control over that, right?
[00:15:01] Or the state could pass new mandates that are unfunded that we now have to really work
[00:15:06] hard to find the funds to manage.
[00:15:10] So it's got to be a better way.
[00:15:12] It's got to be a better way.
[00:15:13] But until then.
[00:15:14] All right, I wonder how other states do that.
[00:15:16] We'll have to look into that.
[00:15:17] Yeah.
[00:15:18] Here's a question that what will happen if the renewal does not pass and fails?
[00:15:26] Sure.
[00:15:28] Could I just clarify all these statements coming forward as not a threat because you're
[00:15:36] laughing.
[00:15:37] You know what I'm talking about, right?
[00:15:39] Anytime I talk about things that could happen, if we don't fund things, I get your threatening
[00:15:44] me.
[00:15:45] No, I'm not.
[00:15:46] You ask me the question.
[00:15:47] I'm just answering.
[00:15:48] I mean, obviously with less money, things have to happen.
[00:15:50] You know, if my family pulls in less money, maybe I stop going to Duncan or human beings.
[00:15:58] Right.
[00:15:59] So Lucas, you really just answered the question, right?
[00:16:02] So if this renewal doesn't pass within this calendar year, first thing that happens is we're
[00:16:10] going to lose a year of collections.
[00:16:12] So we're out $3.2 million.
[00:16:14] That's planned in our five-year forecast and our budget right now.
[00:16:18] The second thing is we're going to, as taxpayers, as homeowners, we're going to lose at 12.5%
[00:16:23] tax credit that we just talked about.
[00:16:26] That bothers me because anytime that I can get my state tax money back into my community,
[00:16:31] I want to do it.
[00:16:32] You know, I mean, let's not even get started on what's 60 million that we've gotten from
[00:16:38] the state for new buildings.
[00:16:40] That's unheard of.
[00:16:41] No other district has gotten that.
[00:16:43] And then that 4% of our budget, right?
[00:16:49] If we have to operate without it, then that's when we start talking about and we get into
[00:16:55] this cycle of the Titan-Urbelt Kanandrum.
[00:17:01] We are a service, we provide a service, we pay people to provide those services.
[00:17:08] If you tell me that we're spending too much, you've got a Titan-Urbelt, then I have
[00:17:12] to find a place to Titan and we run a lean ship as it is.
[00:17:20] If you talk to Mr. Pipera, our treasure, sometimes his little vein starts popping here when
[00:17:26] we talk about these things because he's got a harder job than a lot of other treasures
[00:17:32] because we are Brunswick runs a lean ship.
[00:17:35] We don't carry a huge cash balance that we can tap into.
[00:17:39] I mean, I'm not throwing other districts under the bus, that's just the way that their
[00:17:43] community wants to do it.
[00:17:45] It's never been the way in Brunswick.
[00:17:47] So we don't have much to supplement $32 million over two years.
[00:17:55] That's a lot of money.
[00:17:57] We would have to make some cuts or come back to the district, to the voters for a new money
[00:18:03] sooner.
[00:18:04] Yeah, so much for not seeing you till 2028, right?
[00:18:09] That would lose that then.
[00:18:15] We kind of already answered this one already, but it's one of the ones asked and we said
[00:18:20] that we would ask everything.
[00:18:22] Why is this a renewal of an emergency levy?
[00:18:25] Is the emergency over from years ago?
[00:18:28] So we kind of explain that in the very beginning.
[00:18:31] What an emergency levy is.
[00:18:33] That it's not an emergency like, oh my gosh, the building's on fire, I think is what you
[00:18:39] said.
[00:18:40] It's just the state's way of awarding it on the ballot and stuff like that.
[00:18:44] They don't do as many favors with that.
[00:18:45] I think we should write them and say we would like it to change to fixed levy for fixed
[00:18:51] tenure levy.
[00:18:52] How about write them and say let's come up with another one.
[00:18:55] It does sound.
[00:18:56] It's important.
[00:18:57] It's important.
[00:18:58] How about important levy?
[00:18:59] Yes, important levy.
[00:19:00] Yeah, no, it does put a different connotation on it that you know, oh my gosh, oh my
[00:19:06] gosh.
[00:19:07] And we have to battle these things.
[00:19:09] Yeah.
[00:19:10] So I'm glad we could clear that up today.
[00:19:11] Sorry.
[00:19:12] What else you got?
[00:19:13] This one, this was a long one.
[00:19:15] Thank you for getting that to me.
[00:19:16] You're welcome.
[00:19:17] But Dynastity School District has a similar student population of Brunswick.
[00:19:21] Last fiscal year, but Dynast operating on close to 9 million less than Brunswick while
[00:19:25] producing better test scores.
[00:19:27] This levy has been in place for two decades, but we still lag behind despite having nearly
[00:19:31] 1,500 in additional funding per student.
[00:19:35] How will these additional requested funds be better utilized than before to produce results
[00:19:39] as the current track record can only be described as under performance?
[00:19:44] Oh, yeah.
[00:19:45] So question.
[00:19:46] I mean, it's a good thought out.
[00:19:49] Well, you know, except they are additional funds though.
[00:19:53] Let me just break it down.
[00:19:56] Okay, and I'm going to use my notes on this because I want to get to each part of that
[00:19:59] question.
[00:20:00] That was a long question.
[00:20:01] So the first thing, let's dispel some myths that were written here.
[00:20:07] I'm not sure where this person got their data, but I went data digging as you can respect
[00:20:16] that.
[00:20:17] You're a data person yourself.
[00:20:19] So let's talk about the spending.
[00:20:23] According to the Ohio Department of Education and anyone who's watching can go to their website
[00:20:29] and pull all this data.
[00:20:30] It's very easy under the report cards.
[00:20:33] The state average per pupil, state average is $11,916.
[00:20:39] So the state average, how much money each district spends per pupil?
[00:20:45] $11,916.
[00:20:46] Medina is above that at $12,977.
[00:20:50] I'm not throwing Medina under the bus here.
[00:20:54] Right?
[00:20:55] They're doing their thing and they're doing a good job of educating kids.
[00:21:00] Brunswick is below that at $11,348 per student.
[00:21:06] So his question is patently wrong.
[00:21:12] Okay?
[00:21:13] In 2022, we spent $71.9 million and in 2003, we spent $75.7 million.
[00:21:27] We're in good standing with the state thanks to our voters who approved that new money,
[00:21:33] we were in a similar position to Medina right now where we were entering into a cautionary
[00:21:39] period with the state like either get new money or cut a lot of services.
[00:21:45] That's what we're Medina sitting right now.
[00:21:49] So our budget somewhere around $75 million, Medina spent $90 million last year.
[00:21:58] So that's a big difference right?
[00:22:01] And they're currently seeking a levy for new money that will add in additional $14 million
[00:22:07] per year.
[00:22:09] So I don't know where this data came from.
[00:22:13] But you know we were going to ask, you heard that?
[00:22:17] And we talk a lot in our school district about internet safety, responsible sources,
[00:22:28] responsible data.
[00:22:29] What bothers me about this is that it's there and people are reading it.
[00:22:35] And unless they're listening to this, they don't write.
[00:22:40] So that's pretty scary.
[00:22:41] So I would ask that people you know if you've got a question like this, I'll help you find
[00:22:47] the data.
[00:22:48] But don't put it out there like this because that's what keeps me up at night.
[00:22:54] How could they contact you for any questions that they put into your door?
[00:22:57] For sure, my email address is on the website and maybe you guys can flash it if you guys
[00:23:02] are really your tech.
[00:23:03] Yeah.
[00:23:04] The bad student.
[00:23:05] Yes, yes.
[00:23:07] My email address anytime.
[00:23:09] Absolutely.
[00:23:10] I'm happy to answer any question.
[00:23:13] He makes some claims about he compares our students to Medina City school students.
[00:23:22] I don't like to do that.
[00:23:23] These are children, right?
[00:23:25] I'm going to clarify that in the fact that no student should be judged solely on a test
[00:23:32] score.
[00:23:33] That's pretty ridiculous kind of thing, you know a 75 minute test for a year-long worth
[00:23:41] of learning is probably not an accurate depiction of how much someone has learned.
[00:23:46] That being said, if we do look at those state report cards that measured a couple of
[00:23:51] different things, not just test scores.
[00:23:55] Medina and Runswick both scored a 4.5 out of 5 stars on that report card.
[00:24:03] Medina County was the highest average in the state.
[00:24:06] Wow.
[00:24:07] Yep.
[00:24:08] Wow.
[00:24:09] Thinking we're both doing pretty darn well.
[00:24:13] And if we look into those different categories that the report card judges, we were equal on
[00:24:20] every single one except that Runswick scored 4 stars on early literacy while Medina earned
[00:24:27] 3 stars.
[00:24:29] So I again, yeah, I know a little bit on some of that stuff.
[00:24:34] I think so.
[00:24:35] And I would encourage this person and everybody else, you know go ahead and look at that report
[00:24:43] card data but take it with a brain assault because it doesn't show you what our students
[00:24:47] are really doing in learning.
[00:24:50] And I would ask that people come to events, come and see what our students are doing on
[00:24:57] the stage and on the field and in the community.
[00:25:02] You know, like how many follow us on social media and see how many students are getting
[00:25:08] their articles published through the beat.
[00:25:11] See how many students are putting together a lemonade stand to raise money for an inclusive
[00:25:17] playground?
[00:25:19] How you know we have amazing students doing amazing things we have students in Princeton.
[00:25:26] We have recent grads who've gone to MIT.
[00:25:28] You know, you're not seeing that on a report card.
[00:25:32] Right.
[00:25:33] You know, the journey of a blue devil is really something that I like hearing about how
[00:25:40] they become citizens of Brunswick and not just numbers, not just reports, not just scores
[00:25:49] that become part of the community.
[00:25:50] I love, love, love our journey of a blue devil.
[00:25:54] It really is a focus on teaching the characteristics that we want kids to have before they become
[00:26:04] adults and become our neighbors.
[00:26:07] Right.
[00:26:08] So I just saw that on the middle school sign on the way over here, actually.
[00:26:10] Can you, one of you, both of you, tell us a little bit about what is that?
[00:26:15] What is that?
[00:26:16] Tell me your impression of it.
[00:26:18] It's a parent.
[00:26:19] I mean, I love it.
[00:26:20] As a parent, it's just teaching them to be respectful, how to communicate things that you
[00:26:27] don't measure with numbers.
[00:26:31] You measure with feelings, with just how they just, yeah.
[00:26:37] So it's not quantifiable data, right?
[00:26:40] It's not going to, you know where can you measure empathy, which is something that we're
[00:26:46] trying to teach our students to feel and to express, right?
[00:26:50] To be able to put themselves in other people's shoes and be better citizens, better neighbors.
[00:26:59] Well, we've had so many that have gone on to trades and stuff like that and open their
[00:27:04] own business here in Brunswick, you know.
[00:27:07] So there's a good indicator of whether in Brunswick City Schools is successful.
[00:27:13] Think about all of the people who come back or settle here, right?
[00:27:18] You and I are transplants.
[00:27:20] But I've lived in Brunswick more of my life than I've lived anywhere else.
[00:27:24] And I wouldn't be surprised if my kids come back and settle here.
[00:27:29] There is a different podcast done by Brunswick City Schools.
[00:27:35] It's just a fledgling project that's getting off the ground, but they were talking about
[00:27:41] how many families come back.
[00:27:46] How many of our teachers, our graduates of Brunswick City Schools?
[00:27:51] You don't go back and work for a place when you didn't enjoy your time there.
[00:27:56] Any last words?
[00:27:59] Yes, as a matter of fact, issue six.
[00:28:03] I don't know if you guys have heard about it.
[00:28:07] It will be early voting is happening right now.
[00:28:10] You can go down to the Middiana County Board of Elections even tomorrow on a Saturday and
[00:28:16] cast your vote early or you can wait and go to your normal polling place on March 19th.
[00:28:22] Please vote yes for issue six so that we can continue the momentum that we have here in
[00:28:28] Brunswick City Schools.
[00:28:30] Awesome.
[00:28:31] I want to thank you so much for your time.
[00:28:33] Appreciate it.
[00:28:34] Definitely cleared up a lot of.
[00:28:36] Thank you very much.
[00:28:37] Questions that we have.
[00:28:38] I think we should probably give a plug to March 16th if you are interested in driving a
[00:28:44] school bus for the city.
[00:28:48] Stop up and they will actually let you drive the bus.
[00:28:51] I forget the time but we'll get it out there to you guys again, but just want to make
[00:28:56] sure we plug that in there in case anyone's interested.
[00:28:59] Please drive our buses.
[00:29:00] It's so fun.
[00:29:01] We love it.
[00:29:02] Thank you again, Mary, for your time.
[00:29:05] Thank you, Beth, studios.
[00:29:06] It's been another great experience.
[00:29:08] We learned a lot.
[00:29:09] If you have any questions we're going to have Mary's email for you guys.
[00:29:12] Take care, Brunswick.
[00:29:13] Bye.
[00:29:14] Bye.