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Y’town school board takes no action on levy
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown Board of Education took no action at its meeting Tuesday to place a renewal of the school district’s 10.7-mill property tax levy on the November ballot.
However, board President Brenda Kimble said she expects to call a special meeting within the next few days to further discuss the four-year levy, which generates $5,291,510 per year and costs the owner of a $50,000 home $164 annually. It was originally passed in 2008 and renewed in 2012.
But, said Kimble, “I can’t support putting a levy on the ballot without the financial data to back up the need.
“We need to be able to justify the levy renewal to the community. We want to do right by our children. But we need to be better informed before we act,” Kimble said.
And the board must act quickly if it wants to get it on the November ballot.
It must submit its resolution of necessity to the Mahoning County auditor by Aug. 2 to be certified and to the county elections board by Aug. 7, Kimble said.
The school district has 5,248 students, or scholars as incoming CEO Justin Jennings calls them.
After the meeting, Jennings, who attended Tuesday’s meeting, and assumes his new post Aug. 1, said the first thing he has to do as CEO is address the community about the levy.
“We have to do everything we can to convince the community of the need for passage of the levy and give them the information they need to decide,” he said.
“The community support is phenomenal, and it will take the whole community to change the mind-set about Youngstown schools. To get the levy passed, we have to do what we promise,” he said.
Board member Jackie Adair, a frequent critic of outgoing CEO Krish Mohip and the Academic Distress Commission that have been running the district, said, “We are stuck with this model, and we might as well work collaboratively with the new CEO.”
But, said Adair, a financial work session is needed in order to come to some reasonable path forward.