Yellow Springs, Troy and Greeneview are asking for their communities to support building new school buildings.
Finally, Oakwood and Beavercreek have levies meant to raise money for improvements to the district other than new schools — and Oakwood’s levy would also largely go to operating expenses.
Beavercreek
Beavercreek local schools is asking for a 1-mill replacement levy. If it passes, a homeowner would pay $35 a year for every $100,000 in taxable property valuation. Under the current property tax, homeowners pay about $14 per $100,000 in property valuation per year.
If approved, the Beavercreek levy would start generating revenue in January 2024 and expire in December 2028. It would collect about $2.2 million per year.
Beavercreek voters last approved a renewal of a 5.25-mill levy in the spring that lasts five years. The money from that levy went to the general fund, while the money Beavercreek is asking for now would only go to property improvements.
“The levy that we are asking for is not an operating levy but a permanent improvement levy that cannot be used on operating expenses, i.e. salaries, benefits, bus fuel, utilities, etc.,” said Beavercreek superintendent Paul Otten. “This levy can only be used for construction, renovation, and additions to school facilities and for providing equipment, furnishings, and site improvements.”
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
Centerville
Centerville is asking voters for a new combined 5.4-mill operating and 0.5-mill permanent improvement levy. It would cost an additional $206.50 a year per $100,000 of home value and generate $12.9 million per year. Approximately $11.8 million of that amount would go toward district operating expenses, and $1.1 million would be earmarked for permanent improvements.
Centerville voters renewed a 10-year emergency levy in May 2022, which did not raise taxes. This levy would raise taxes.
Centerville Schools officials noted the last time voters approved an increase in the school’s operating funds was four years ago.
“It has been four years since Centerville Schools asked our community for additional funding,” said Sarah Swan, spokeswoman for Centerville Schools. “Our expenses are now exceeding our revenue, and we are beginning to dip into our reserve funds.”
Centerville, as one of the wealthier school districts in the area, is funded at a lesser amount from the state than other districts deemed poorer. About 77% of the district’s operating revenue comes from local property taxes, Centerville officials said.
According to the district’s May five-year forecast, a public document all school districts are required to submit to the state that looks at district spending and what the district has in the bank, the district expects to spend $6.3 million more than what the district believes it will bring in during this school year.
The district also projected deficit spending of $3.9 million last school year. While the district has roughly $30 million in the bank right now, projected deficit spending would spend through those reserves by the 2026-2027 school year.
Milton-Union
Milton-Union is asking for a 7.62-mill emergency levy that would bring in $2 million per year for seven years. It would cost an additional $267 per $100,000 in property tax valuation per year.
According to Milton-Union’s five-year forecast submitted last spring, the district spent into the red last school year by roughly $700,000. Milton-Union expects to spend about $1.8 million into the red this year and projects the deficit to continue to grow if trends continue. While Milton-Union has about $10 million in reserve as of this school year, the district projects running out of money in 2025-2026.
Milton-Union officials said if passed, the emergency levy will result in new operating dollars for the district, meaning it would go towards the daily operations of the school district. If passed, this will be the first new money operating levy approved by school district voters since November 2003.
In Ohio, emergency levies do not mean the school is in fiscal distress. It is simply the technical name for a levy that generates a fixed amount of money each year.
Northmont
Northmont Schools is asking voters to approve an additional 5.5-mill emergency levy expected to generate about $4 million per year for a 10-year period. It would cost $192.50 per $100,000 in property valuation a year.
Last spring, Northmont voters rejected a proposed 7.82-mill property tax levy, which would have raised $5.8 million annually for the school district, costing homeowners about $274 per $100,000 in property value in a year.
Northmont spokeswoman Jenny Wood said the district is currently in a deficit and spending into reserves. The state will not be giving Northmont more money during this budget cycle under the new rules for the state’s share of funding, and inflation keeps driving costs up.
“Without additional revenue, our schools will be in the red by more than $6.9 million by 2026,” Wood said. “The funds generated from the emergency levy will allow the district to maintain our schools’ day-to-day operating costs and educational opportunities.”
According to Northmont’s five-year forecast from last spring, the district has been deficit spending since the 2021-2022 school year. This year, the district expects to spend $6.3 million more than revenue. In 2021-2022, the district reported a $27 million reserve in the bank. But the district anticipates spending through that reserve by 2025-2026, according to the five-year forecast.
No reductions have been approved by the school board as of Oct. 11 if the issue does not pass. Last spring, the district approved closing Englewood Elementary earlier than anticipated, among other cuts, before the ballot failed.
Greeneview
Greeneview Local School District is asking for $19 million over 37 years and a permanent improvement levy that collects about $277,346 annually.
The district wants to move its three buildings into two and pass a permanent improvement levy. All students will be together in two campuses on Cottonville Road, the district said. Additions would be made to the middle and high school, so the district is not building two new buildings and no new land will need to be bought.
District officials noted that about one-third of the total cost of the $33 million project will be funded by state and federal funds. Greeneview’s share is about $22 million.
The bond and permanent improvement levy will cost $190.44 per $100,000 in property valuation.
Oakwood
Oakwood Schools is asking for a combined operating and improvement levy of 6.75 mills. The 5.75-mill operating levy would generate about $2.1 million annually, while the improvement levy, which is one mill, would generate about $373,000 annually.
The combined levy will cost $236 per $100,000 of appraised value.
“It has been four years since the district asked residents for additional funds,” said Traci Hale, spokeswoman for Oakwood Schools. “Just like any business, the cost of operating increases every year.”
Hale noted that funding from the state and from previous levies has stayed relatively flat. She said the money will be used to prevent deficit spending.
Oakwood Schools began deficit spending this school year, according to the five-year forecast submitted last spring to the Ohio Department of Education. This year, the deficit is anticipated to be roughly $500,000, while by the 2026-2027 school year it is expected to rise to about $4.9 million. The district does not anticipate running out of reserve funding in the next five years, according to the five-year forecast.
Oakwood voters last approved a renewal levy last November, extending an existing 1.8-mill permanent improvement levy for another five years. It is expected to raise about $534,00 in the first year. The last new request for operational funding was in May 2019, when 55% of voters approved a combination levy and bond to raise $18 million in renovations for the district’s schools and pay for daily operating costs.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
Vandalia-Butler
Vandalia-Butler is asking for an additional $2.8 million, or 4 mills, to avoid an operating deficit. It would cost a property owner $140 in property taxes per year per $100,000 in property values.
Vandalia-Butler sought a full 1% earned income tax ($500 annually on $50,000 of qualifying income) last spring, but voters declined to pass it. It would have generated about $6.4 million per year for the schools.
With that levy failing, the district imposed cuts: seven teaching positions absorbed and not replaced from retirements and resignations, 10 teaching assistant positions absorbed and not replaced from retirements and resignations, an administrative reduction from retirement, technology department brought in-house a year earlier than anticipated (was previously a contracted service) and a $100,000 reduction in supplemental contracts.
Mary Stephens, a spokeswoman for the Vandalia school district, said with the increase in state funding along with budget reductions implemented after the May 2023 income tax failure, the Board of Education reduced the request for funds.
According to the district’s five-year forecast submitted last spring, Vandalia has been deficit spending since at least the 2019-2020 school year. During this school year, the district anticipated spending roughly $1.5 million more than it brings in. The district anticipated running out of reserves in the 2026-2027 school year, per the May financial forecast.
Vandalia-Butler said Friday the district no longer expects to run out of cash reserves in 2026-2027 because of cuts made by the district for this school year and due to updated school funding formulas at the state level.
The district has said multiple times that Vandalia-Butler is the second lowest funded district in the area in 2021-2022 and the 36th lowest funded district per pupil in the state, according to the Ohio Department of Education’s District Profile Report. Only Beavercreek was lower.
A similar calculation by the Dayton Daily News, combining both state and federal funding per student, showed Vandalia-Butler seventh lowest out of about 45 school districts in the newspaper’s coverage area. That puts a higher tax burden on local property owners to fund the schools.
“VBCSD has had to use reserve funds to maintain operations as expenditures exceed revenues,” Stephens said. “The district is seeking a property tax to help with operating expenses and to sustain fiscally responsible cash reserves.”
Troy
Troy schools is asking for $87.8 million over 37 years to build new school buildings, which would cost $163 per $100,000 in property value, and $2.3 million for permanent improvements, which would be $81 per $100,000 in property value.
Troy schools wants to construct four new buildings to replace seven old ones. Three buildings would house preschool through fourth grade, while the fourth would be for grades five and six.
The $87.8 million levy is 4.66 mills. The $2.3 million levy is 2.3 mills over 29 years.
The current proposal is for the preschool-to-grade-four buildings to be located at the Cookson Elementary and Hook Elementary school sites, plus a site at Ohio 718 and McKaig Avenue. The proposed location of the building for grades five and six is property the district owns off Swailes Road.
If the bond passes, Troy will get about $46 million from the state to complete the project. Ohio Facilities Construction Commission money is typically contingent on local schools paying for at least some of the building costs.
The last time Troy passed a levy asking for new money was in November 2006, for operating expenses. The last time Troy passed a bond issue was November 2004, which built a new gymnasium and science wing at the high school, as well as other improvements throughout the district.
The last time Troy passed a levy renewal was May of 2021.
Yellow Springs
Yellow Springs is asking for a 7.9-mill, $26.3 million levy over 37 years and a 1% income tax levy to build new school buildings. The property tax would cost $277 per $100,000 in property value. The income tax would be $500 per $50,000 in taxable income.
Yellow Springs last asked voters for new building money in 2021, but voters rejected the $18.5 million levy by 63%.
Yellow Springs says it plans to renovate the existing Mills Lawn Elementary School and the existing high school and add onto the existing buildings. The project will cost an estimated $55 million, but because the district has some OFCC money, the local share is about $46 million.
In 2021, the district proposed moving all grades to the high school building, but many in the village became concerned about what would happen to Mills Lawn, which is a green space in the middle of the village.
Corina Denny, the district’s spokeswoman, said if the levy fails, the board will decide next steps.
The district also has a $152,000, 1.2-mill, $30 per $100,000 renewal levy on the ballot, which is a continuing levy and goes towards operating expenses and is unrelated to the school building levy.
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