After three hours of public comment with over 50 speakers pleading with the board to place a levy on the November ballot, there’s still no action from Cincinnati Public Schools on a new-money levy.
The calls for a levy come during the height of CPS’s budget debate, wherein the district is attempting to chip away at a $58.6 million excess in expenses before June 30, when the fiscal year officially ends. To do that, the district proposed at the May 18 board meeting eliminating a number of nurses, social workers, counselors and other positions – some of which were sustained through the now-dry pandemic relief funds, board documents show.
Eliminating or charging for summer school in 2027, moving Aiken, Hughes and Shroder high schools to six rather than seven periods and trimming arts and science curriculums are included among the list of reductions. The list, which has yet to be approved by the board, can be viewed in full here.
“Please take my money,” district parent Angie Wilson said during public comment at the May 18 board meeting. “I want my tax dollars to fund Cincinnati Public Schools.”
The district’s reliance on local tax revenue is not novel given the current state of school funding in Ohio. And many Cincinnati school officials and parents are pointing fingers at legislators in Columbus.
Like districts statewide, CPS is cobbling together its budget amid state funding that strays from the Fair School Funding Formula and shrinking enrollment school officials say is spurred by private school vouchers expanded by the Republican-led legislature. Plus, already-dire fiscal forecasts have been worsened by Gov. Mike DeWine’s sweeping property tax reforms that school leaders say could threaten districts’ tax revenue growth in the coming years.
“This budget issue that we have, we all know, is a problem with political making,” Renita Brooks, a Walnut Hills High School counselor, said during public comment. “And it just goes to figure that we also have a political response, which is putting a levy on the ballot.”
Teachers union criticizes district for not going to the ballot
Why CPS hasn’t voted on a new levy has colored much of the budget discussion in recent district board meetings.
In the May 4 board meeting, CPS’s teachers union organizer Michelle Dunn said during public comment that she’s “dumbfounded” that the board has not put forth a new money levy on the ballot.
“We want to express our extreme disappointment in this board in failing your most important task and that is to help keep our district financially strong,” Dunn said.
The last time CPS passed a new-money levy was in 2016, with the 7.93-mill, five-year levy that raised about $48 million for the district’s preschool program. New funds for general operating costs were last secured in a 2008, 7.89-mill levy that lasted five years.
“If we don’t have a levy this year, we will be lucky to keep the lights on and the doors open,” teachers union president Julie Sellers said during public comment.
The district relies on local tax revenue for over half of its budget – 58%, to be exact. State dollars currently account for 29%, according to CPS’ forecast for fiscal year 2026.
CPS’s dependence on local taxpayer support joins a trend felt by many districts in the state, as Ohio continues to rank in the bottom percentile in the country for its share of state dollars allocated to schools.
Dunn told The Enquirer that CPS and other districts are continuing to feel a divestment in state funding due to the “explosion of universal vouchers.” In turn, the funding burden is falling on taxpayers, who are already expressing property tax fatigue.
“Death by a thousand cuts is a phrase that is said a lot about public education,” Dunn said. “We are forced to rely on our neighbors to close the gap for mandated services (and) to educate our children of this city.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Parents, staff plead for levy as CPS proposes program, service cuts
Reporting by Grace Tucker, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
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