Teacher jobs, buses on chopping block if more tax levies fail

CENTERVILLE, Ohio — Teacher lay offs, fewer buses, and higher school fees are all a part of the plan if voters don’t pass a levy in some districts.

While one area school district is facing cuts, another district where those cuts were already made is seeing a different kind of change.

It’s the third time in a year that Centerville City Schools Superintendent Jon Wesney is asking for more money to run his school district.

“Going back and asking the community for additional tax dollars is difficult,” said Wesney.

He said they need $3.9 million of the tax dollars to pay for operating expenses.

“It’s the day-to-day operations of our buildings. It’s the salaries of our staff and benefits for our staff. It’s also looking at the materials and classroom supplies that our teachers need,” said Wesney. 

Voters rejected to the levies in November and in March. The district cut 48 teachers and staff in response. 

The superintendent said it could get worse this election if voters turn down the tax levy again.

“If the levy happens to fail November, we’re going to have to look at some additional staff cuts, and right now, we want to protect our core programing as much as we possibly can,” said Wesney. 

The school district is the latest to consider more cuts after tax levy failures across the state.

According to the Ohio School Boards Association, more than half, 52%, of school tax levies failed in the last election alone.

It happened at the Talawanda School District in Oxford two years ago, but then something unexpected happened.

“Our attendance rate last year in the first year that we had this program in place, our attendance at the high school went up significantly,” said Holli Hansel, district spokesperson. 

She said their tax levy failure in 2022 triggered cuts that included busing fewer students, but she said after the first year of fewer buses they saw 2,300 fewer absences.

“There’s a lot of speculation as to the reasons why attendance went up, but one of the things that we’ve discussed informally among leaders in the district is that parents are interacting with their student face to face, person to person in the mornings and because they are bringing them to school, they’re ensuring their attendance,” said Hansel. 

Back at Centerville, transportation cuts are on the table too, but the superintendent is still hoping it doesn’t get to that point.

“I don’t know that there is a superintendent anywhere that I’ve ever met who wants to go through a reduction plan…. But people have to understand this if we want to keep the quality of education and program that we’ve had in this district, we have to go back to our community for additional funds,” said Wesney.