Voters send message to school officials about taxes

One reading -- and probably the most accurate reading -- of Tuesday's special election results should send area educators back to their books. Their financial books, that is, looking for new ways to get by without asking for an increase in taxes.
Conventional wisdom has been that special elections favor the school district, because in a single-issue election, only the voters who really care come out. In the past, those more passionate voters have generally been the supporters of new, better and bigger schools.
Tuesday's election suggests that that the pendulum is swinging. The voters who really care now are voters who strongly believe that they can't afford to pay more taxes. Also, no-fault absentee balloting has made it easier for people to vote without leaving home. That is especially attractive to senior citizens, who tend to be on fixed income and cautious about increasing property taxes.
Of three school bond issues on the ballot in Mahoning and Trumbull counties Tuesday, only the Southington issue was approved. The issue had two things going for it: its defeat in November was by a very narrow margin and its passage would allow the district to build a 21 million school with a local expenditure of 6 million. More than two thirds of the cost will be paid by the state.
Niles was facing a similar opportunity, with the state prepared to pay almost 60 percent of the cost of a 65 million school building program.
Boardman, which presented a 51 million building plan to its voters won't be eligible for a state construction subsidy for three more years, and then it would only cover about 10 percent of the cost.
Dramatic results
The striking thing about the elections in Boardman and Niles was that the proposals were rejected by margins of nearly 2-to-1 in the special election -- a far more negative vote than in November.
Some of that opposition may have been a backlash by voters who resented the placement of the issues on a special ballot just three months after they were defeated.
In the past, we have urged voters to support local levies for education, pointing out that school board members are in a position to evaluate the needs of their schools and ask voters to approve new taxes only when they believe they are absolutely vital.
We continue to believe that board members have the best interests of their schools, students and communities at heart. But they are going to have to do a better job of balancing what they believe is best with what the voters of their communities are willing to provide.
Tuesday's vote implies that the boards and a majority of their voters are not on the same page.
Our suspicion is that the gap in many communities is only going to get wider, which does not portend well for those communities or for the Mahoning Valley.