By Todd Munro, Milford School District Levy Committee
It seemed so innocent sitting in my inbox on Dec. 22, 2006. The subject heading was "Something to think about" and it was from the Superintendent of Milford Schools. I opened it. It was an e-mail that would consume the next two years of my life. The request was simple: Would I be willing to chair a levy committee?
My wife and I had moved into the school district six years earlier with our two young daughters. We chose the Milford School District because of its Excellent rating and the affordability of the housing. The district had also completed four new elementary schools with plans to add two more and remodel the junior high and high school. Other than that, we didn't pay too much attention to the schools.
Once our children started school all was well, and we were very happy with the education that they were receiving. We heard that a bond issue was going to be put on the ballot to help pay for the completion of the remaining two elementaries and the junior-senior high. To us it seemed like a no-brainer. The bond issue failed.
This was the beginning of a long, hard road for our school district. With the success that the district was having, the student enrollment was increasing by leaps and bounds, and with the failure of the bond issue relief for the overcrowding was not going to happen in the near future. So, the district had to redistrict some students. Two of them were my daughters. Suddenly, I was paying attention to what was happening with our school district. I started attending every school board meeting, wanting to be informed on the decisions that were being made by the school district.
That is how I ended up getting the e-mail and taking on the challenge of chairing the May 2006 school levy. At the time, I knew nothing of levies, millage, HB 920 [state law that caps revenues from property taxes], phantom revenue [funding reduction created by the interaction of HB 920 and the state funding formula] or how to run a levy.
A comprehensive campaign
We organized a very comprehensive campaign with 10 subcommittees targeting various demographics within our community. We had rallies, multiple mailings, newspaper ads, people walking door to door, and plenty of media coverage. We raised $35,000 in donations and had over 200 volunteers working on the campaign. We did everything we could to get the word out.
I had high hopes the night before the election; we had done everything we could... How can you pass a levy when you can't even get people to pay attention to the fact that school is closed?
I had high hopes the night before the election; we had done everything we could. Due to many of our schools being polling places, the district closed school on election day. I was working the polling place at my local elementary trying to get those last few votes. It was there that I had my first doubt that the levy would pass. A car pulled up and a little girl jumped out with her backpack on. She looked disappointed and her father looked frustrated as we told them there was no school due to the election. How can you pass a levy when you can't even get people to pay attention to the fact that school is closed?
Needless to say, the levy failed. It had been a tough campaign. We had a very vocal anti-tax opposition group. It was an issue that truly drove a wedge through the community. There were strong feelings on both sides. People on one side felt strongly about education and were frustrated with the way that it was funded, and those on the other side didn't want to pay any additional taxes for education and didn't understand the way schools are funded. Say the words "school levy" in the Milford School District and you immediately have 45% of the population either for or against it, regardless of the details of the issue. We recognized this during our campaign and summarized it in a cartoon, which I think carries through all communities levy efforts and even now as the governor discusses changing school funding.
You could remove "Milford School Levy" and replace it with any school district or even the words "School Funding Reform" for whatever it is that Gov. Strickland proposes and you still will have the kids stuck in the middle of heated debate.
That is the reason that many work on school levy issues. It is the hope that you are making a difference in the future lives of many.
Trying again
It was also for this reason I chaired the following levy in November. After the failed levy in May many programs were cut from our district and it was the potential loss of more that pushed many of us on. The donations were lower, as well as, the number of volunteers. The school district had worked hard over the last few years to improve the level of education in Milford and we didn't want to see all that hard work slip through our fingers. This May levy effort failed as well.
At this point, I began to wonder if it was my fault. Was I using the wrong strategy? Could someone else do it better? I decided that I would hang up my levy chair hat and let some else run the next one. But, still stayed involved and helped out were I could. With the failure of the November levy, the district cut busing to state minimums. Many in the district felt that this was a strong arm tactic to get votes, but it was really the district taking advantage of guaranteed funds regardless of how many kids the district bused.
The next levy effort was in February 2007 and was run by group of people within the administration. The messaging was different but the arguments were the same. So was the outcome. By now the frustration on both sides was increasing. The superintendent and two board members, whose terms were coming up, were taking heat from both sides. The superintendent decided to resign and the two board members decided not to run for another term. But not before changing tactics and placing a bond issue on the November 2007 ballot to take advantage of a millage drop that would allow for the high school to be remodeled. This issue passed.
So, there we were in the beginning of 2008. We had an interim superintendent, two new board members, a $30 million bond issue that passed, a year-end operating balance of $65,000. The district was in the status of Fiscal Caution.
Yet another levy issue had been placed on the ballot by the old school board. With so many new players, it was hard for the district to agree on a clear message for this levy. The levy failed, but we had narrowed the gap.
A year of change
The year 2008 has been as been a year of much change for our district. We hired the interim superintendent, Robert Farrell, on a three-year contract. Dr. Farrell has done a tremendous job in reaching out to the community and getting input on how the community wanted our schools to operate and what was important for our schools to provide. Interesting enough, busing turned out to be one of the top things that the community wanted to see returned. The newly elected board members began looking at new ways to do business.
It became clear that the community wanted the district to provide the best education possible at the least possible cost. The board and administration started looking at every part of the budget where savings could be found. One item was to move from a two-tiered busing system to a three-tiered system. There were changes in teaching schedules and partnerships with the Live Oaks program to offer programs at no cost to the district. There was also elimination of outdated programs. All of this effort turned a projected $65,000 operating balance into a $2.7 million end-of-year operating balance, but we still showed negative operating balances for the following years and no chance to move out of Fiscal Caution.
It seemed like we finally had all of the elements in place to pass a levy in November. It was a Presidential election which typically helps school levies. But to our benefit this was going to a Presidential election like no other. We knew everyone was coming, and we just needed to get them the facts so that they could make an informed decision.
A "no hype and no spin" campaign
We started off our campaign with a letter to the editor in the local paper stating that we would be running a "no hype and no spin" campaign, it would be a fact-based campaign and we would use our web site to answer any questions about the district and the levy. We also knew that we needed to touch as many people as possible and sent a mailing to every household with a registered voter. After four failed levies it was hard to raise funds but we managed to raise just enough. We also went door to door in some of our key precincts to increase our support. We even had the superintendent and some of the school board members going door to door. This levy had a chance. The only thing holding us back was the economy and it seemed like everyday that there was worse news.
This fifth attempt to get a levy to pass was finally successful - after failing on election night, passing on the certification of the vote, and then having to wait for the results to be finalized in a recount.
It is a draining process and with each loss it takes more and more energy to go forward.
Had this last attempt failed, I don't know if we would have had it in us to go at it again. It is a draining process and with each loss it takes more and more energy to go forward. With each levy effort the frustration level increases on both sides. The pro-levy side gets increasingly frustrated with the reductions in programs and services that occur with each loss. The anti-levy side gets frustrated with the repeated attempts and can't understand why school districts won't take "no" for an answer. But, with such a reliance on local funding, school districts have no other choice in order to increase revenue to match increasing expenses.
Even with the passage our levy this November there is no clear mandate for how our school district should move forward. How could there be when the issue passed by only 54 votes? Which programs and services should come back? Do cuts still have to be made? How do we make this additional funding last as long as possible? There is still much work to do to bring both sides of the issue together now that this levy has passed.
A precarious position for Ohio schools
You would think that after two years working to get a levy passed I would be jumping up and down, shouting from the roof tops and grinning from ear to ear. But I'm not. I know too much now about the precarious position that all of our schools are in. I have gone from not paying attention until it affected my kids to knowing how much this affects all of Ohio's kids and all of Ohio's communities.
It has only been a couple of weeks since we have had the good news here in Milford. But, now I see the current situation that the state budget is in and it doesn't look good for our schools. Did we just pass a levy to have most of the new funds eaten away by cuts from the state? We promised the community that we would make this levy last for four years. Can we keep that promise now?
I don't know what the governor has planned in the reforming of our schools and school funding. I do know that something has to be done. I do know that many have suggestions which typically put the burden on someone else. The best tax is one that someone else has to pay. How do we take a system that has had to rely so much on local funding and make it equitable across the state? Why should the quality of education be less or more because of where you live? That would have been the situation here in Milford had the levy failed. There are subdivisions here that just because you live on one side of the street the quality of education would have been different.
There have to be solutions to this. Maybe you have one. People have to get involved. Otherwise, nothing will change and I can tell you I'm not looking forward to having to fight for funding for our schools again in four years - if we make it that long.
About the Author
Todd Munro is a real estate appraiser and graduate of the University of Cincinnati's Business College. He and his wife Wendy have two daughters in Milford public schools.
This article appeared in the December 2008 issue of Primer, a KnowledgeWorks Foundation publication. Comments from readers appear with the online edition.