Buckeye Local School District in Medina County hopes to have a new high school built by summer 2029, and it plans to do so without increasing taxes on residents.
Voters rejected the district's last three bond issues meant to fund new facilities. Superintendent Jeff Stanton said the district realized it cannot hold out hope of a tax levy passing, especially with property values hitting historic highs.
"I'm gonna say from the 80s to the current time, it's probably something like 34 out of 38 or 35 out of 40 (levies) have failed. And that's just history," Stanton said. So what that has forced the school district leaders to do and the boards to do during those times is, you have to be very conservative on how you budget, right?"
So the district has taken a different tact, forgoing asking voters to support a new tax that typically lasts for the life of a loan, 30 or more years. Buckeye has managed to save up $40 million to put toward the $60-65 million new school, Stanton said. The district will obtain a bond to fund the rest, which will be paid off using Ohio Facilities Construction Commission funds the state is chipping in.
Ohio provides less state funding per student than the national average on maintenance and operation of schools, according to a 2025 report from the 21st Century School Fund, a nonprofit that advocates for school modernization. Most U.S. public schools were built between 1900 and 1979, the report adds.
Why is the new school needed?
Teacher Kathy Smith welcomes Buckeye's plans because it will mean the district will finally be able to close its junior high school, built in 1957. She said she's tired of the cramped spaces, the lack of enough electrical outlets, and the smell.
"It's everywhere. Every time I go into my room, it's like, 'Oh, this is a new smell today,' and when it rains, I'm like, 'okay, well, where is the leak going to be today?'" she said. "Even the students, they've made comments to me and they're like, 'how come we can't get a new school? This is disgusting.'"
The district's plan is to move the junior high school to the current high school, and build a new high school at the corner of Columbia and Wolff roads in York Township. Buckeye serves a mix of rural and suburban communities across three townships, which includes the northwest corner of Medina city proper.
Stephanie Lichty, the coordinator for the district's Education Management Information System (EMIS), is another Buckeye parent who went to school in the current junior high school in the 1990s.
"At that point in time, it seemed old and outdated, and that was years and years and years ago," she said.
She said her daughter, who played sports in junior high, was "embarrassed" by the school's conditions when visiting teams would use the locker rooms or the gym.
Lichty and Smith applauded the district's plan to build a new school, and demolish the junior high, without asking voters for additional taxes.
"I've heard some community members say, ''well, it was always fine for me,'" Smith said of the junior high. "Teaching is not like it was in the 80s, in the 70s, in the 90s. It's extremely different. Especially with all of the technology, and you've got these high school kids who are taking all of these college classes and we want to encourage kids to be able to find who they are and what they wanna be and pursue these different dreams that they have."
Stanton said the new school will have new amenities and will hopefully be a "magnet" for community and civic life.
"We want the schools to be the center hub of those townships," he said.
School funding in Ohio, and Buckeye
Stanton said the district was able to save money for the new school despite few taxes being approved for another reason: it's remained at the 20-mill floor. The 20-mill floor is a complicated concept, referring to districts that levy 20 mills or less of property taxes. Levies are expressed in terms of mills. In dollars and cents, a mill translates to a tenth of a penny.
Districts at the 20-mill floor, under House Bill 920, Ohio's property tax law from 1976, are allowed to receive increased tax revenue from their levies when property values increase, unlike districts above the 20-mill floor.
Still, the state rolled out a number of measures to provide property tax relief last year that will impact schools' ability to levy taxes, and the amount they receive. One of those measures put an inflation cap on increases for schools like Buckeye at the 20-mill floor.
Stanton acknowledged residents, himself included, don't want to see taxes increase. But he's worried about the state's efforts to cut property taxes, noting the district already receives the majority of its funding from local taxpayers, rather than the state.
"Here's the thing, we don't want to be in front of the voters asking for more money. We don't want that, right? We're concerned that as public school funding changes, that public schools are gonna be forced to be in front of the voters quicker and more frequently and we know that's going to be a challenge," Stanton said.
