Voters in 19 greater Cleveland communities will decide the fate of levies in their school districts when they head to the polls on Tuesday.
If approved, the money will be used to avoid a deficit for Brooklyn City Schools and to provide emergency resources for Parma City Schools, West Geauga and Green Local Schools to name a few.
Jennifer Houge with the Ohio School Boards Association says if voters don't pass the levies, these districts will have to make difficult decisions to balance their budgets.
"We've seen changes in funding result in everything from cuts to programs that directly serve students to transportation cuts or reducing staffing," Houge said. "And they're never easy decisions because all of those budget balancing decisions all will have a direct impact on students."
Houge says voters should educate themselves about how much the levy will cost them and how the school district wants to use the money.
"So, the renewals and the additional dollars are typically used for current expenses in the buildings, maintaining the level of programming that students have come to know and expect, renewing the levels of transportation that are provided to students and all things that provide direct service to students in the district," Houge explained.
Northeast Ohio districts with levies on the ballot include Strongsville, Kirtland and Nordonia Hills, totaling 104 school issues on ballots across Ohio.
An earlier version of this story's headline misstated the number of school levies on the ballot in Northeast Ohio. There are 20 levies in 19 school districts.
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