Many Ohio school districts find themselves at a crossroads.
State funding has been cut. The economy is slowly working its way out of a recession. The number of foreclosures is up. It's a tough time to ask homeowners to approve new or renewal levies.
Decisions on the future of nine Southwestern Ohio school districts rests in the hands of voters on November 3.
Among them is the Little Miami School District in Warren County. Passage could restore some of the cuts made in prior years. Failure could mean fiscal emergency and state takeover of the district.
Little Miami Schools are rated "Excellent" on Ohio's School Report Card. The district has 4,100 students, but is adding new children at the average rate of 250 a year.
Two previous tax issue defeats have meant cutting $7 million from the budget. That included eliminating high school busing, laying off 88 staff members and closing Morrow and Butlerville Elementary Schools.
Melissa Briggs was the Morrow PTO President when the school was shut down.
"It was very difficult," she said Monday. "We lost teachers that we cares a great deal for."
That experience motivated Briggs to become the chairperson of the current Panther Pride tax levy campaign. The district is seeking 7.95 mills to raise $6 million in 2010. It will increase to 12.95 mills in 2011 and 2012 to boost that amount by no more than $952,000 a year. During 2013 the tax will raise $9.8 million. The owner of a $100,000 home would pay an additional $243 a year in property taxes.
"We recognize that it's not easy in these times," Briggs said. "But, I have to look at what this does to my kids' education."
"We can choose right now with this election to either move forward to make those sacrifices and keep our children competitive on a global scale or we can backslide and I don't know where that will leave use," Briggs added.
Having the state take over the district's finances is something Briggs doesn't want to consider.
"We don't want people we haven't elected representing us and guiding the education of our children," the mother of a 3rd grader and 5th grader said. "We don't want to kick the problem up the street to Columbus."
Approval of the levy would fend off state takeover, plus restore full busing in January, bring back art, music and gym for the elementatry schools and maintain sports and extracurricular activities for the junior high and high school students.
Driving down Route 22/3 in Hamilton Township gives motorists a glimpse at the diversity of opinion on the issue. Just south of Route 48 is a two-sided billboard.
If you're heading north the sign urges people to vote for the Little Miami Schools.
However, the southbound lanes expose a different message -- "Vote No -- Again."
The billboard cost $1,380 to create and is being paid for out of the Social Security funds of Cheryl Geis, of Hamilton Township.
"It's just become a financial burden for a lot of the residents," she said.
What irks Geis the most is Ohio's current funding system for public schools, which relies heavily on property taxes. Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and the General Assembly have been working on a new plan, which changes the formula, but it's not in place yet.
"I'm not punishing the students," Geis said. "I'm fighting for what I feel is right -- that we need a different type of funding for the school district."
"Until we get that," Geis continued, "I suppose the children will suffer, but cut some more."
Briggs hopes voters say "yes" to avoid the state takeover.
"We want to take care of our own issues and our own people in the community guiding our childrens' education," she added.
Other school issues include:
HAMILTON COUNTY
Cincinnati Public Schools - RENEWAL of 9.11 mills tax levy for operations
Mt. Healthy City Schools -- RENEWAL of 1.39 mills tax levy for operations
Reading Community City School District - ADDITIONAL 5.71 mills tax levy for operations
Winton Woods City School District - ADDITIONAL 7.9 mills tax levy for operations
BUTLER COUNTY
Monroe Local School District - SUBSTITUTE tax levy of 9.71 mills for operations
CLERMONT COUNTY
Bethel Tate Local School District - ADDITIONAL tax levy of 4.34 mills for operations
Batavia Local Schools - 3.7 mills for new construction - ADDITIONAL 0.5 mill tax levy for operations
WARREN COUNTY- (Overlap with Clermont, Greene and Montgomery Counties)
Warren County Career Center - 1.0 mill for buildings
Little Miami Schools - ADDITIONAL tax levy
CLINTON COUNTY
East Clinton Local School District - RENEWAL of 3.0 mills for permanent improvements
