STREETSBORO, Ohio — Streetsboro City Schools faces tough decisions going forward after voters rejected an additional tax levy for the third consecutive time on May 5.
About 57% of the roughly 4,000 voters in the city voted against the measure, which would have generated approximately $5,438,944 each year for the district.
That would have added up to about $245 for each $100,000 of the county auditor's market value of a property.
School leaders said the funding would have gone toward teacher salaries and benefits, curriculum materials, and classroom technology.
Without the levy, the district previously said it would cut junior varsity sports for the upcoming school year, as well as all middle school and freshman sports.
This is in addition to extracurricular activities that were already pulled back in November. The affected programs include the Anti-Bullying Club, Middle School Art Club, Chess Club, Social Acceptance Club, Foreign Language Club, International Culture Club, Just Say No Club, high school and middle school STEM Clubs, Pep Band, Music Ensemble, high school and middle school Jazz Clubs, Select Choir, Treble Choir, BETA Club, and the high school and elementary Student Councils.
According to the district, about 24% of the schools' funding comes from the state, while 72% comes from local sources.
"Between gas prices, between health care prices, between everything, utilities, groceries, it was too much to give up at this time," Rod Flauhaus, who runs the Streetsboro Residents for School Accountability Facebook page, said. "We want the kids to have a good education. With everything going on between the state and local and taxes and even in the country and how you can afford everything, it just comes down to people going, 'We can't do this this way anymore.'"
In a statement, the Streetsboro superintendent said:
With the failure of this operating levy, Streetsboro City Schools now faces even more difficult financial decisions in the months ahead. While we are disappointed by tonight’s outcome, we respect the voice of our community and remain committed to transparency as we work through the challenges this creates for our district. Even in disappointment, we remain proud of our students, staff and community.
Streetsboro City Schools will continue moving forward together, and we remain committed to doing everything possible to support our students while addressing the financial realities facing the district.
Flauhaus called on the school district to not just increase accountability and connection within the community, but to look at alternatives to raising property taxes and also to join with other school districts to take the issue to the state level.
"I would encourage not only Streetsboro but other schools to get together and form a real coalition and go down to the state and say you need to fix this," Flauhaus said. "Look what's happening. Our communities are saying no — you created this problem and you need to fix it."
Clay LePard is the Ashtabula, Geauga and Portage counties reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on X @ClayLePard, on Facebook ClayLePardTV or email him at Clay.LePard@wews.com.
