School districts in Northeast Ohio have been hit hard by challenging economic forces again this year, including rising costs, the end of pandemic relief funds and a state school funding system that some argue is overly reliant on property taxes.
Many Northeast Ohio districts are turning to taxpayers with appeals for levy support to help them weather the current environment after implementing cuts in previous years.
Two of the highest-impact levies on the ballot this school year are in Akron and Cleveland. Both are joint requests.
In Akron, the district is seeking an operating levy and bond issue, and CMSD is seeking an operating levy and renewal of an expiring bond issue.
Both districts made significant cuts earlier this year, with CMSD cutting after-school and summer programming and laying off some central office administrators and Akron cutting 285 positions.
The asks come as Cuyahoga, Stark, Lorain, Lake, Huron and Erie counties are all in the process of adjusting property values through the state's sexennial property reappraisal process. Those reappraisals have resulted in potential tax hikes for many, although school levies approved by voters this year will not be based on the reappraised property values.
Other counties in the region like Summit saw those tax increases take effect this year after their reappraisals happened in 2023.
Those tax hikes could make it more likely for voters to reject any asks for new money, school officials have said.
What are the levies and bond issues for?
A number of school districts are seeking bond issues to build new school buildings. Summit County, in particular, has a larger number of districts appealing to voters for funding, in Akron, Aurora, Stow-Munroe Falls and Twinsburg.
The cost of these building projects is often split between local taxpayers and the state, with a percentage funded by the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission.
At Norwalk City School District in Huron County, which has a bond issue on the ballot, the state is committing $52 million to a project to build a new kindergarten-through-eighth-grade building.
Some districts take an alternative path
Some school districts are electing to pursue income taxes this November instead of property taxes.
In Richmond Heights, for example, after a previous levy attempt failed this spring, the district went back to voters to listen to their concerns, Superintendent Marnisha Brown said.
"Some of the most vulnerable citizens within the community are seniors, and... they just couldn't afford it," she said. "They were going to be taxed out of their homes. They could not afford a tax increase."
The district is seeking an income tax increase along with a smaller bond issue, instead of the larger property-tax increase voters had rejected in the spring, Brown said.
"We are trying to figure out a way (to compromise) because at the end of the day, what we do understand is that if we don't support and invest in our schools, we are not supporting and investing in our community," she said.
There are also renewal levies on the ballot in some areas. Renewal levies don't increase taxes because they are set at the same rate as when the original levy was previously approved.
Typically, that means they are not as controversial, but some districts in the region say they have been put in challenging financial situations in recent years after voters declined to approve them.
Curious about what a mill is, or how to calculate what your taxes will be under a new levy? Check out our guide on school levies.
See the list of new requests for tax increases on the November ballot
Cuyahoga County
- Cleveland Municipal School District is seeking a 10-year new, 8.61-mill property tax to fund operations, along with renewal of a 2.65 mill expiring bond issue that helped the district modernize its facilities over the last two decades.
- Mayfield City School District has a 5-mill continuous (meaning it's a permanent tax) levy on the ballot to fund operations.
- Richmond Heights Local School District has a 1.25% income tax and a 3.24-mill, 37-year bond issue on the ballot. The bond issue will fund a new elementary school, which Superintendent Brown said is "not structurally sound" and needs new water fountains, an air filtration system and has needed costly repairs in recent years to fix the roof and pipes.
- Strongsville City School District has a 4.9-mill continuous levy on the ballot to fund operations. This ask is technically a lower amount than the 5.9-mill 2019 tax levy the district had in place until voters defeated a renewal attempt in November 2023 and March 2024.
Erie County
- Firelands Local School District has a 1% continuous income tax on the ballot to fund operating expenses.
- Margaretta Local School District has a 3.22-mill, 40-year bond issue on the ballot that Treasurer Diane Keegan said will be used to help the district cover the costs of building a new pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade school. Keegan said the majority of the funding from the project is coming from the NEXUS pipeline and from local tax revenues.
Geauga County
- Kenston Local School District has a new 1-mill, 5-year levy on the ballot to fund permanent improvements.
Huron County
- Norwalk City School District has a 5.4-mill, 37-year bond issue on the ballot to build a new kindergarten-through-eighth grade elementary school that will replace six buildings that Treasurer Joyce Dupont said are aged and need replacement. The district has a previous bond issue that is falling off the tax rolls starting next year.
Lorain County
- Avon Local School District has a 3.98-mill, 37-year bond issue on the ballot to fund construction of a new elementary school and athletic facility.
- Avon Lake City School District has a 6.59-mill, 37-year bond issue on the ballot to fund construction of new elementary and middle schools and improvements to the high school, along with a 1-mill levy to fund upkeep of buildings. Avon Lake City School District also has a 4.22-mill, 10-year levy to fund emergency requirements.
- Columbia Local School District has a 4.88-mill, 37-year bond issue on the ballot to fund renovations to the high school and kindergarten-through eighth-grade building, along with building a new two-story athletic complex, The Chronicle reports.
The plans are to renovate and add onto the high school and do the same at its kindergarten through eighth-grade building and build a two-story athletic complex. - Lorain City School District has a 4.97-mill, 5-year levy to fund permanent improvements, meant to fund upgrades to school facilities and invest in career technology learning and early childhood education facilities. One bond issue is rolling off taxes this year, and another is rolling off next year, according to the district website.
- Oberlin City School District has a 4.21-mill, 37-year bond issue on the ballot to build a new middle school. The district's current middle school is over 100 years old, Treasurer Robert Rinehart said.
Mahoning County
- Canfield Local School District has a 3.7-mill, 37-year bond issue on the ballot to fund reconstruction of Canfield Village Middle School and renovations to C.H. Campbell Elementary, Hilltop Elementary and Canfield High School, WKBN reports.
Medina County
- Medina City School District has a 7.8-mill, 10-year levy on the ballot to fund emergency requirements. The district's last two levy attempts have failed and it says it's already made significant cuts this school year.
Richland County
- Mansfield City School District has a 1%, five-year income tax as well as a 5.6-mill, five-year new levy on the ballot to help fund operations.
Summit County
- Akron Public Schools has a 1.29-mill, 37-year bond issue on the ballot this school year that will fund a new North High School, which the district said is in desperate need of repairs and is overcrowded. The district also has a 7.6-mill, continuous levy on the ballot to fund operations.
- Aurora City School District has a 7.57-mill, 37-year bond issue on the ballot to fund the construction of a new high school and update other buildings in the district.
- Stow-Munroe Falls City School District has a 8.89-mill, 35-year bond issue on the ballot to build four new elementary schools and a new middle school, the Akron Beacon Journal reports.
- Tallmadge City School District has a 1.25-mill, continuous replacement levy on the ballot to fund facility improvements.
- Twinsburg City School District has a 4.27-mill, 36-year school levy on the ballot this year to build a new pre-kindergarten through sixth-grade school and relocate the athletic fields and Tiger Stadium.
- Mogadore Local School District has a 5.9-mill, five-year new levy to fund operations on the ballot this school year. The small school district has seen three levy failures over the last two years.
Trumbull County
- Mathews Local School District has a 7.8-mill levy on the ballot to fund operations. It's not clear from the county board of election website how long the term is.
Multi-county requests
Voters in several counties will see a bond issue for the EHOVE Career Center located in Milan, Ohio (located in Erie and Huron counties). The career center in a statement said the 2.2-mill, 36-year bond issue will fund "additions, renovations, furnishings and equipment."
Voters in Richland and Holmes counties will also see a 9.743-mill, 37-year bond issue on the ballot for the Loudonville-Perrysville Exempted Village School District to build and furnish a new pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade building, along with a .5-mill continuous levy to fund maintenance of the building.
