The majority of school levy attempts in Northeast Ohio passed Tuesday night, according to unofficial results, but the vast majority of districts seeking anything more than a renewal of an old levy were rejected.
New taxes meant to fund operations again failed at Parma, Elyria and Streetsboro schools, after failures in the spring primary election. Parma has not had a new operating levy approved by voters since 2011, Elyria, since 2010.
Officials in Parma and Elyria have said they’ve avoided layoffs in recent years, through reducing expenses by attrition or cutting empty positions. But that could change if levies continue to fail. Financial forecasts for those schools show them in the red in the not-too-distant future with Streetsboro out of cash by the end of its 2028 fiscal year and Parma and Elyria out of cash by the end of the 2029 fiscal year.
Approval of levies overall was up this November in Ohio compared to last year's November election, the Ohio School Boards Association said in a release Wednesday, continuing a trend from earlier this year. 66% of levies statewide were approved according to unofficial results this year, compared to just 51% last November.
“A school board doesn’t place a levy on the ballot lightly,” said Tom Hosler, chief executive officer of the Ohio School Boards Association. “Each question represents months of discussion about how to meet student needs while respecting a community’s ability to pay. When a levy is rejected, it isn’t failure — it’s feedback. That exchange between schools and voters is the essence of local government and democracy.”
However, Ohioans have seen significant property tax increases in recent years amid historic highs for home prices, which has left some property owners less willing to vote for taxes.
While many Northeast Ohio districts sought renewal levies, meaning no new taxes, some sought new tax money for operations or to fund a bond to build new facilities. Typically, new taxes are harder sells for districts, as was the case in Tuesday's election. Just 3 out of 17 tax increase attempts were approved by voters in Northeast Ohio, compared to voters approving a third of those measures statewide, according to Ohio School Boards Association data.
Just one of six bond issues were approved by voters in Northeast Ohio Tuesday night. That includes a bond issue at Vermilion Local School District that failed, as it did in the spring.
This will also be the last election cycle for three kinds of levies: emergency, substitute and replacement levies. The Ohio Legislature overrode a veto from Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine in the current biennial budget in a bid to provide some property-tax relief to residents.
Instead of traditional school levies that increase property taxes, three school districts had new income taxes on the ballot - Amherst Exempted Local School District, Madison Local Schools in Richland County, and Wickliffe City School District. All three failed, along with a renewal attempt at East Palestine schools.
