The Yellow Springs school district has asked voters twice in the last four years to approve school levies to build new buildings, but voters have declined to do so each time. Three separate assessments done in the last few years say the cost to fully update Mills Lawn Elementary School and the Yellow Springs high school and middle school building would be more than 66% of the cost to build a new building, the standard Ohio uses to determine whether a building should be fixed or replaced.
In 2021, voters declined to approve a 6.5-mill school levy, estimated to raise $23 million, and a continuing 0.5% income tax to help pay for the school construction. In 2018, Yellow Springs voters rejected a 4.5-mill levy that would have generated about $18.5 million for new school construction and renovation.
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