In Milford, a suburban school district outside Cincinnati, levy supporters were anxious about their 5.5 mill operating levy defeat Tuesday. The loss by only 54 votes is attributed to a poor economy that is forcing voters to make tough choices based on their personal financial situations. Given that Milford has not passed an operating levy in five years, this loss means the school district will likely remain in the state's Fiscal Caution category and will likely not be able to reinstate cuts made earlier. Going forward, they will also have some tough choices to face regarding future levies and spending.
"We need to hear more from the community about their expectations for Milford schools," said Milford Superintendent Bob Farrell. More about Milford.
That's an awful thing to happen to a school district that is perennially rated Excellent on academics.
This is the way it is in Ohio school funding. School districts that find ways to ensure the academic success of their students - thereby earning top ratings for that effort - are nonetheless unable to find stable sources of funding to continue to pay for those successes.
In all, Ohio school districts placed 237 issues on the ballot Tuesday - more levies than the last two general elections combined. Preliminary numbers show that 58% of those levies passed yesterday; 36% failed (and another 5% were not yet decided.) If it holds, that passage rate is higher than last year (54%) and higher than results for last six general elections. You have to go back to 2002, when 59% of the levies passed, to find that kind of success. More election results.
Success came Tuesday to school districts not normally used to it. Levies passed in urban districts like Toledo, Columbus, Youngstown, Dayton, and Lima. Yet, suburban and rural school districts had mixed results. School districts like Bedford and Richmond Heights in Cuyahoga County saw their operating levies fail, while nearby Euclid and Mayfield saw success. More on Mayfield.
But even those who had success yesterday are not convinced we have the right funding system in Ohio. The celebration in Mayfield of the passage of its 6.9 mill operating levy was not even over when district officials concluded: We need to use the same energy and efforts that passed the levy on a much larger goal - changing the school funding system in Ohio.
We agree that there has to be a better way to fund public schools in Ohio.
We are launching this blog today with the fervent hope that Ohio can find a way to remake its public school funding system so that teachers and parents and students have a stable source of revenue to pay for resources that are adequate to reach the standards the state wants them to reach.
Over the coming months, the School Funding Matters initiative wants to explore what the problems really are with this system, debate what the best approach might be to fix those problems, and figure out how to get it done. Ohio won't snap out of its economic doldrums without putting into place a fair and reasonable funding system for its public schools.
That sentiment may or may not win at the ballot box, but it is the right thing to do. Stay tuned.