Unofficial results in Ohio show many rejected school tax issues

March 6, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

School officials in Youngstown plan to put the levy on the November ballot.

Associated Press

Voters rejected a little more than half the school tax issues on ballots across Ohio, according to unofficial results released Wednesday by the state Education Department.

Of the 165 issues on Tuesday ballots, 77 passed and 88 failed, the department said.

School officials in two of the state’s largest districts — Cincinnati and Toledo — celebrated victories.

“What do I want to say to the voters? I can’t thank them enough for what they have given to the children of this district, it’s just wonderful,” Cincinnati Superintendent Rosa Blackwell said.

But despite voters narrowly approving the five-year, $51.5 million levy, budget cuts remained likely for Cincinnati schools.

The school district, which has about 33,800 pupils, faces a projected $72.8 million deficit for the upcoming school year, and new money raised by the levy won’t start flowing until next January. School officials said they will find ways to close the gap without direct cuts to academic personnel.

The new five-year levy passed 51 percent to 49 percent on Tuesday, according to unofficial results.

Blackwell had said that if the levy failed, the district would have faced cuts in extracurricular activities and athletics, as well as jobs.

Similar fears were raised in the campaign for a Toledo school measure, which won approval with 61 percent of the vote. The five-year levy in Toledo will generate $15.8 million a year for the district.

Elsewhere, voters rejected more than half of the 19 school district bonds and levies on central Ohio ballots, according to unofficial results.

School officials in Hilliard, a Columbus suburb, said they will have to cut $4 million from the district’s budget before the start of next school year. About 56 percent of voters rejected an operating levy that would have raised $22.8 million for the state’s ninth-largest district.

“I’m gravely disappointed for our students, gravely disappointed for our school community and gravely disappointed for all those who spent literally hundreds of hours, all for the betterment of the students,” said Superintendent Dale McVey.

Voters in Reynoldsburg, east of Columbus, approved a combination levy and bond issue. The tax will raise $56 million to pay for a second high school and seventh elementary school.

School officials in Youngstown, where voters rejected a five-year emergency tax levy for the third time, said they will bring the issue back in November.

School Board President Shelley Murray said the district, which ran a $15 million budget deficit last year, needs more revenue. The state fiscal oversight commission has controlled district finances since placing Youngstown in fiscal emergency in 2006.

Tuesday’s levy would have raised $7.5 million a year in new revenue. It was defeated by about 1,000 votes.

“We closed the gap some more,” Murray said. The levy failed last November by about 1,800 votes.