3 local school districts seeking more money from voters
By Jeremy P. Kelley, Dayton Daily News, Ohio | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
So far in 2014, renewal levy requests have outnumbered "new-money" levies in
Huber Heights voters have not approved a funding increase for the school district since 2005, rejecting five straight requests. The schools responded with budget cuts last year, lowering expenditures from
Those cuts included more than 100 teachers and staff, reduced busing and higher pay-to-play fees for sports and extracurricular activities -- leading to larger class sizes and a 16 percent drop in sports participation, according to the district.
Treasurer
The levy would cost the owner of a
"We need additional revenue to bring additional instructional teachers, staff and instructional materials back," Bernardo said. "Our enrollment has dropped some, but our classrooms ratios, especially at the junior high and high school levels, are high."
"The solution always seems to be more taxes, and the school levies keep going and going," Smith said. "I'm not in favor of it at all."
The Warren County Career Center's ballot issue would replace a 35-year-old 3.5-mill levy, applying it to today's property values. If the levy passes, the owner of a
Superintendent
"We do not have a sprinkler system in our building right now; we were grandfathered in on that," Hess said. "But it's beginning to be a major issue for us in terms of insurance, and it's a safety issue. We can't do any major modifications to the building without addressing that."
Hess said if the levy passes, the new funding would also go toward improving electrical capacity, laboratory space and safety features for the center.
A new method
While most property tax levies generate the same set dollar amount for a school district every year, substitute levies allow schools' levy income to increase in future years if there is new construction. Owners of existing properties would continue to pay the same amount, with taxes levied on new construction added on top.
"This levy has been on the books for about 20 years as a traditional emergency levy," Miamisburg schools treasurer
Emrick said Miamisburg schools would not collect new-construction money from growth at
Emrick said fewer than 20 school districts in
Renewal levies
According to OSBA's statewide data, just over 90 percent of all renewal levies have been approved in the past six years, compared with 35 percent of new levies. Renewal levies keep the level of funding for a school district the same in most cases, usually without changing residents' taxes.
Those high passage rates are reassuring to districts like Northmont,
But even renewal levies are not a sure thing.
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