PARMA, Ohio — The Parma City School District faced defeat again Tuesday after voters rejected an emergency operating levy that would have generated more than $23 million a year for the school district.
School Board President Steve Vaughn had high hopes ahead of the primary election.
“It's quite the disappointment,” Vaughn said. “I really had hoped that we would have been able to pass it now, rather than later.”
Vaughn said the district is facing a more than $8 million deficit in 2028.
I asked him, "Does the district need to change its message to voters?”
Vaughn responded, “I don't know how we can change that. We need the money. And it’s true that money does affect the kids, and we have done a good job with our current superintendent. He's done a fantastic job in making sure that money gets steered to the classroom.”
Vaughn said leaders now face having to make tough decisions that could include cutting staff and increasing classroom sizes to the low 30s district-wide.
“That’s just never good when you put more kids and more bodies in a room for one person to take care of; it makes it difficult,” Vaughn said.
The district said it will also look at eliminating elective courses and begin charging students to participate in extracurricular activities.
“Any kind of cuts that are going to occur will probably come out in August,” Vaughn said. “I'm sure there's a list being compiled somewhere in everybody's heads that this could go, this could go.”
John Kutsick lives in Parma. He doesn’t have any children and said, “The taxes are really high in Parma."
Kutsick told me he voted against the school levy — tapped out when it comes to taxes.
“I think it’s time to give the older people a break. The people that use the school should be taxed more,” Kutsick said.
Sandy Ballard said she voted for the levy.
“The kids need it. The schools need it. Everybody can use it,” she said.
Ballard is a former French teacher who worked in Cleveland and later became a school guidance counselor. She thinks tax fatigue is one reason the levies keep getting voted down, causing people to lose sight of the value of education.
“They say, ‘I’m not giving my money up. I’m going to keep it,’” Ballard said.
Vaughn said it’s likely another levy request will be put on November’s ballot.
“We're going to just go back to voters and plead and say, ‘Hey, you really need the money. I hope that you see why we need the money and that we need it,’” Vaughn said.
The district is also searching for a new superintendent. Current superintendent Charles Smialek recently accepted a job to become the next leader of the Pickerington Local School District.
Vaughn said three candidates for the Parma job will be interviewed on May 12 and three more on May 15.
He added that six candidates will be whittled down to two finalists. A special school board meeting is set for May 27 to announce and approve the next superintendent.
In Summit County, the Nordonia Hills City School District is grateful that voters passed its operating levy. It’s expected to bring in more than $7 million a year for the district.
“They said we're willing to invest in you, but you have to show us that you're willing to make the hard decisions,” said Superintendent Casey Wright.
In March, I reported that the district made $1.7 million in cuts, which included laying off several teachers and 10 paraprofessionals.
RELATED: Parents worry as Nordonia Hills Schools cut student paraprofessional support
Wright said that with the passage of the levy, some of the paraprofessionals could be coming back.
But Wright added, “We're going to keep on that path of right-sizing our district."
He said the levy will support several areas.
“One is making sure we stay on pace to fix our buildings. Currently, as we sit today, there's $59 million in need in our buildings. This money will help offset some of that. Secondly, safety,” Wright said. “We want to make sure our buildings are safe for our kids every day. Making sure we have an SRO (school resource officer) dedicated to every building. It helps us continue that process. Third, is a great education. We want to keep class sizes reasonable for our teachers. We know the hard work they do. We want to give the necessary supplies and support to serve our kids the best they can.”
Wright said lawmakers in Columbus need to fix a broken school funding system.
“What it does is it forces the school districts to go back to their community and causes this conflict,” Wright said. “That is why, when our taxpayers feel like they're stretched, they are correct. They are absolutely stretched. The reason why they're stretched so much is because the state's not doing their share.”
RELATED: Amid numerous school levies failing across Ohio, state GOP doesn't plan to bail districts out
