Cool Cleveland ENDORSEMENT:
YES on Issue #107 Cleveland Schools Tax Levy
This 15-mill property tax levy would cost the average Cleveland homeowner $.63 per day, or $230.00 per year, and it would raise $67 million for each year of the 4-year levy. It should be passed in part because the Cleveland Metropolitan School District has not passed an operating levy in 16 years.
In that time, they have achieved a 23% increase in graduation rates while reducing their deficit. Plus, in the last two years, their state and federal funding has been cut by $168 million. Ohio’s constitution dictates that its schools must be adequately and equitably funded, and the current system for funding schools has been declared unconstitutional four times by the Ohio Supreme Court, yet the Ohio State legislature refuses to change a mechanism which allows wealthier communities to buy their children a better education at the expense of their poorer neighbors.
Cleveland schools are on the right track and should be given back some of the funding they have lost so they can continue their progress. It’s disgusting and shameful, and until we elect state legislators with the guts to do the right thing, tax levies such as this are the only option for each and every community in the state. We hope the unexpected support from Republican Governor John Kasich for the Cleveland Plan collaboratively designed by Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and lawmakers might encourage such legislative courage.
We urge you to vote “YES” on Issue 107.
One Response to “Cool Cleveland ENDORSEMENT: Vote YES on Issue #107 Cleveland Schools Tax Levy”
Jill
Thank you.