Solon School Board Election 2011: Robert A. Paulson

Editor's Note: As part of Solon Patch's local election coverage, we will provide profiles of each of the candidates running for office. These profiles will offer biographical and issue-oriented details about each of the candidates to help you, the voters, make more-informed decisions at the ballot box. We also will have a short video of each candidate that will help you learn more about them.

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Name: Robert A. Paulson

Age: 58

Occupation: Senior Acquisitions Editor, Pearson Education

Education: B.S. Miami University/M. Ed Ohio University

Political Affiliation: Republican

Office Sought: Solon Board of Education

Previous Political Office Sought or Held: Solon Mayor, 1987-1997; Also ran for School Board in 2007 and lost in a recount by only 10 votes

Candidate Statement: I have a long and productive history in public service in Solon as well as a keen insight and understanding on how the city and schools operate both independently and jointly in matters of common interest. I ran for the Board in 2007 and lost by just ten votes in a recount. 

This past spring I served as an active member on the Solon Schools Strategic Planning Finance Committee. Our schools cannot maintain their excellent reputation for long without adequate funding. The financial well being of the district was placed in extreme jeopardy with the state's proposed biennial budget which would have eliminated tens of millions in state funding from Columbus to top performing districts like Solon's. This would have essentially wiped out the funds the schools hoped to generate through the passage of a new tax levy in 2010. 

I personally lobbied members of the state legislature to point out why the elimination of the Commercial Activity Tax (CAT) would be devastating to districts like Solon's who previously heavily relied on revenue generated from business and industry. Collectively our committee was able to get most of these funds restored and our strategy was used as the strategic model by other like districts throughout state. 

That said, Solon is not out of the woods yet because almost everything in Columbus is done in short-term, next election, two year increments. Solon needs a new board member who not only understands how Columbus works but can be an aggressive lobbyist to continue to protect our best interests. Excellence in education cannot be maintained without proper funding and Ohio cannot expect t its taxpayers to continue to fund education through increases in our property taxes.  That model no longer works as evidenced by the large percentage of school levies that keep going down to defeat.