Rash of school-levy losses reveals voter skepticism

Have Mahoning Valley voters suddently become less supportive of public school districts than the majority of Ohioans?

On the surface, at least, evidence from Tuesday’s general election would suggest that, yes, they are less willing to support school systems’ requests for continued or additional tax dollars to fund school building, personnel and security costs.

According to an Ohio School Boards Association analysis of the 2018 general election results, 69 percent of the 175 school-tax levies on Tuesday’s ballot won voter approval.

But in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties, only nine – or 56 percent – of the 16 renewal, additional, substitute or bond issues on the ballot got the green light from school district residents.

What’s more not a single one of the six requests for additional levies in the Valley was approved. And the overall passage rate for all school-district pleas fell 30 points from the 86 percent approval rate of school issues in the Valley just six short months ago in the state’s primary election.

Ninety percent of all renewal levies in the three counties – for Boardman, Poland, South Range, LaBrae, Lakeview, Liberty, Maplewood, United Local and Wellsville local schools – gained voter support. A renewal levy for the Beaver Local School District in Columbiana County was one of three such no-new-tax levies throughout Ohio that failed.

That low rate of renewal rejection, however, is misleading in accurately gauging overall voter sentiment.

Razor-thin margins

Many renewal issues in our state and region won by razor-thin margins. Only about 140 votes out of about 15,000 cast in Boardman separated victory from defeat of the school district’s request for a 10-year renewal of a 2.4-mill property-tax levy for emergency needs of the 4,200-student suburban school district.

Likewise, in the 1,800-student Lake- view Local School District in suburban Warren, only about 100 votes carried its five-year renewal of a 3.2-mill tax levy for emergency needs over the finish line.

Therefore leaders of those and other school districts where levies passed by unimpressive margins by only about 50 percent of the eligible electorate can ill afford to accept the results as an overwhelming mandate of support for their financial and academic management.

Jennifer Hogue, director of legislative services for the Ohio School Boards Association, recognizes as much.

In the aftermath of this week’s latest round of wins and losses for public education in the state, she said, ‘‘Districts whose issues did not pass will have to increase their outreach efforts and continue to share their financial situation with the voters.”

We agree and also urge leaders in districts where voters approved tax issues Tuesday to double down to ensure the dollars awarded them continue to be wisely spent. To be sure, we and many voters will be watching closely to ensure transparency in operations and accountability to taxpayers remain their primary priorities.

Tuesday’s results also should send messages to Columbus. The continued trend of close calls on or voter repudiation of additional tax issues and tax- renewal initiatives should serve as yet another wake-up call to Ohio education leaders and state legislators to fix Ohio’s dysfunctional education system once and for all.

The state’s school funding system has been declared unconstitutional several times over the past 20 years, and despite some minor tinkering, it remains broken.

Unequal schools

Overreliance on the property tax has created unequal schools. Rich school districts with high property values provide better education than poor districts with low values, which runs counter to the state’s constitutional guarantee of “a thorough and efficient education for every student.”

Several successful candidates for next year’s new session of the Ohio Legislature made reforming that system once and for all a priority. We hope they stick to their guns and follow through.

After all, until that broken funding system is fully and structurally repaired, we would not be the least bit surprised to see taxpayer support for public schools continue to erode.