With dozens of school levies on the ballot in Ohio each year, it’s important for voters to understand what they’re voting for since they have a direct impact on property taxes and school funding.
What is a school levy exactly, and why are they often on ballots?
Mark Hill, secretary-treasurer with the Ohio Education Association, said local school funding in Ohio is broken down into two main funding streams: One is funding from the state, and the other is local funding from taxes on properties in the school district. This funding, under Ohio's current school funding formula, shifts based on property values in school districts.
"It's all it's all dependent upon the tax valuation of the properties in the district," Hill said. "If you live in a district with high property valuation, then you're going to probably be paying most of your school's expenses through local school taxes, and then the state will be picking up a very small portion. And then it's the exact opposite for districts that don't have high property values."
Schools do receive additional funding from a few other streams, though, including from the federal government to pay for things like education for students with disabilities.
School levies are the main method through which districts can get funding from residents. They lock in a rate that property owners will pay over a set period of time, based on property values at the time of the levy passing.
Hill said there are some key terms for voters to understand when looking at their ballots. To start, there are three main kinds of levies.
- An operating levy - One that’s used to pay for a district’s costs of operating. So, salaries, supplies, staff’s healthcare, equipment, and so on. They can also be used on permanent improvements, like new seats at a stadium or new school buses.
- A bond issue - A levy that’s meant to fund taking out a bond to pay solely for new facilities, like a new building or athletic center.
- A permanent improvement levy - solely meant to fund permanent improvements as described above.
There are also a few different flavors of those levies, including but not limited to the following:
- An “emergency” levy - One that, unlike other levies, is adjusted based on property values adjusting over the life of the levy. So if your property value increases one year after the levy is approved, you will be paying more in tax.
- A “renewal” levy - A renewal of a levy that is set to expire. These are typically the least controversial, as they will not increase the tax people pay, as the rate will be locked in based on property values when the original levy was approved by voters.
- A “replacement” levy - A renewal of a levy that is set to expire, but, it does mean property owners will be paying tax at a new rate, based on the current valuation of their property when the levy passes.
- An “incremental” levy - One where districts ask for lower amount of tax funding up front. That number then rises gradually overtime.
Ballots will have what’s called the “millage” for each school levy listed on the ballot, listing how much tax property owners will pay. It’s calculated based on 35% of a property’s valuation, multiplied by the millage amount. So, a 1-mill levy for the owner of a home valued at $100,000 would be paying $35 per year. The formula looks like this, for those curious: actual property value ($100,000) multiplied by .35, then multiplied by the millage amount, expressed as .001.
The Ohio School Board Association has its own explainer on how levies and millage works that is also helpful, Hill said.
Where does the money go?
It runs the gamut. Hill says the best way to find out how your school district will be using the money from a levy, if approved, is your school district itself. Often, they will host town halls on levy vote years, put information on their websites and send letters to the editor in local papers.
So which school levies will be on your ballot this November? You can look up what will be on your specific ballot by typing in your address into your local Board of Election’s website.
- Cuyahoga County ballot look-up.
- Summit County ballot look-up.
- Stark County ballot look-up.
- Lorain County ballot look-up.
- Lake County ballot look-up.
- Portage County ballot look-up.
- Mahoning County ballot look-up.
- Medina County ballot look-up.
- Geauga County ballot look-up.
- Ashtabula County ballot look-up.
- Trumbull County ballot look-up.
We also have a list of all issues for some Northeast Ohio counties as well:
