Cincinnati Public Schools’ property tax levy will be getting the backing from Hamilton County Democrats, the party’s executive committee voted in a special meeting held on Aug. 13.
The committee’s support comes one day after its nearly unanimous endorsement of the county’s increased children’s services property tax levy, which would fund services for abused and neglected children. That means both the children’s services levy and CPS’s levy will be on the party’s slate cards handed out to voters this November.
The two major property taxes have spurred talks about which kids voters are willing to send their dollars to given the sweeping budget cuts at CPS and the acute needs of the foster program under children’s services.
In Thursday night’s Zoom meeting, 90 committee members voted to endorse the levy. Discussion before the vote consisted entirely of messages of support, with several voting members blaming the Republican-led legislature in Columbus for failing to adequately fund CPS, thus forcing the district to be on the ballot this fall.
Depleting state funding is part of the Republicans’ “concerted effort to force public education to fail so that they can essentially privatize all education,” committee member Alex Bauman, member of the Cincinnati Working Families Party, said.
Avondale community activist Ozie Davis III, who briefly served on CPS’s school board when he filled a vacant seat in 2018, was the sole “no” vote against the endorsement.
The committee is made up of Hamilton County elected officials, party leadership, ward chairs and other members appointed by the chair – including several CPS board members and teachers union president Julie Sellers.
All seven of the school board members are Democrats, though the position is officially nonpartisan.
The Hamilton County Republican Party has not yet taken a public stance on either the children’s services levy or CPS levy.
CPS’s 7-mill property tax spanning five years would amount to $245 per $100,000 of a home’s assessed value. It would provide over $66 million for the district annually. At 5.61 mills, the county’s increased children’s services levy would last four years and cost property owners $121 per $100,000 of property value.
The last time CPS passed a new-money levy was in 2016, with the 7.93-mill, 5-year property tax that raised about $48 million for the district’s preschool program. New funds for general operating costs were last secured in a 2008, from a 7.89-mill levy that lasted five years.
Democrats’ support follows opposition to other CPS levy
The county Democrats’ endorsement of the property tax levy comes just weeks after it opposed the district’s earlier income tax proposal.
Last week, the school board pivoted to a property tax and rescinded an earlier vote to place a 0.75% earned income tax on the November ballot – what would have been the district’s first time proposing an income tax to voters.
The switch came after days of chaos, confusion and coercion, board members said, as well as backlash from both of the county’s political parties.
The Democratic party’s executive committee voted 50-23 in a July 28 meeting to urge the school board to rethink the income tax levy, party chair Alex Linser told The Enquirer.
Cincinnati Federation of Teachers President Julie Sellers, a member of the party’s committee, said no one from the school board consulted with county nor city officials like Mayor Aftab Pureval before the earned income tax vote was made.
Sellers joined dozens of other union members at the school board’s Aug. 3 meeting who condemned the board’s initial support of an income tax over a property tax.
Teachers’ federation members accused the board of prioritizing political interests with private Cincinnati businesses in pushing for a tax on residents’ income over a tax on property, which is the funding model historically used by CPS.
Will all Hamilton County residents vote on CPS levy?
No, only homeowners who live within the district’s boundaries will vote on CPS’s property tax levy this November.
A map of the district’s boundaries can be viewed here.
In comparison, all voters within Hamilton County − comprised of several school districts like CPS, Princeton City, Northwest Local, Forest Hills and more − will consider the increased children’s services levy this November.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Hamilton County Democrats endorse Cincinnati Public Schools’ levy
Reporting by Grace Tucker, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Grace Tucker, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
