"If you do not vote for the levy, I will send your kids to China," said Haswell. "I'm not kidding this time."
The district has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars ever since voters decided to pass a law that allowed it gamble its budget on sporting events. Earlier this year, Haswell lost $50,000 of taxpayer money at the Belmont Stakes, betting for 30-1 long shot Midnight Taboo. Haswell has defended his gambling decisions, saying that other factors can be blamed for the financial mishaps.
"Our stupid school board voted to let the Student Council have control of our budget," said Haswell. "That didn't exactly turn out the way they expected it to."
Over the summer, the Student Council approved construction of an $18 million water park on the high school's campus. Class of 2014 President Kaylee Amoroso said that the water park should pay for itself in 20 years.
"Wheeling Park has one," said Amoroso. "They make money by charging people to get in. As long as we make a million dollars in profit every year, we'll be alright."
Haswell says that the district needs the money now and not later.
"After our losses from construction and betting, we had a budget of $453 this year," he said. "We've had to make a lot of cuts and layoffs. If it gets any worse, we'll have no other option than to send our students overseas."
China is currently paying American schools $2,500 for every student. Haswell says that selling children is the best route to take, because they will have less students to spend money on as well as more money in the bank.
"They won't really tell us what they want with our kids," Haswell said. "But they'll get better education over there anyhow so I could care less."
Polls open on this upcoming Tuesday, November 2.
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