April 7, 2026
From Brooke LaGrasso,
Pickerington Board of Education Member

If you point to a strong, healthy and thriving city in Ohio, you can almost certainly find well supported schools. This is no accident. This happens when communities collectively demonstrate care and devotion to their public school system.

The mission of public education is noble and critical because public education is for everyone. Everyone. No matter your strengths or challenges, your personal beliefs or culture: public education is for everybody. 93% of school-aged children in Pickerington receive their education in Pickerington Local School District. 

Our community’s vitality hinges on the success of our schools.

Our schools are more than a place of academic instruction. They form the character of our community. They are an expression of what we value and the future we dream of. Our children become young adults within those walls. They form their identity, their self-worth, and their inner dialogue within our classrooms every day. 

Ohio’s current biennial budget has spoken loudly and decisively. Our State is willing to provide communities with the bare minimum it takes to run a bare minimum school district. Enough to check the mandated boxes and little else. Over the last 20 years Ohio legislators have consistently shifted the burden of funding public schools to individual communities. It has become left to us to provide the opportunities beyond state minimums. 

This method of funding our schools has become wildly unsustainable. School districts across Ohio now face bleak and uncertain futures and are having to make cuts that result in environments that are not best for learning or child development. The negative consequences of these decisions will cripple the future of Ohio. 

Adequate funding does exist; but instead, it is being funneled to operate a private school system. A system that does not have to serve all children and a system that is not held to the same standards, accountability, or mandates as public school systems like ours. Your tax dollars fund this private school system.

I love being a teacher. I love my job immensely. I have worked in three school districts and not one of them was adequately resourced to meet the needs of the children they serve. I can assure you through decades of experience in struggling communities, not every child has access to what Pickerington students have. What our children experience in Pickerington Local Schools is special and not commonplace.

Cuts to these opportunities will not be like shutting off a light switch. It will be a slow sunset. A slow progression that strangles the special experiences your children benefit from daily. The precious features of PLSD that have created the excellence we have become accustomed to. You might not realize it’s leaving, but you will certainly feel it when it’s gone.

I am honored to be a new member of the Pickerington Local School District Board of Education. I continue to be humbled by the immense responsibility I have been given. It is a dream come true. It is on my heart and mind nearly all the time. I say these things as someone who is deeply committed to earning your trust and being a good steward of our resources. I understand where the impact is the greatest for classrooms and what is essential for a positive and successful classroom experience.

I do not seek to support a district that spends needlessly or frivolously. I believe there is absolutely a point of diminishing return. This is not where PLSD is at.

We are asking our community to protect what we have built together. A legacy of excellence and diverse opportunity. We are asking the community to vote to extend this legacy to our youngest learners and build a sustainable avenue for growth. To continue to proudly display what we have and will continue to build.

We are a community that loves our schools.

I humbly ask you to vote YES on May 5th.