Members of the Akron Board of Education agreed on Tuesday to send a pair of levies to the ballot this fall, one to pay for operating expenses and the other to fund the construction of a new North High School.
It is the first time in 12 years voters will be asked to approve funding for the school district. The decision comes a week after the school board agreed to eliminate more than 250 jobs, resulting in the expected layoffs of more than 50 teachers and nearly $24 million in savings.
“The district, in my eyes, has done its diligence in first looking at home,” school board President Diana Autry said.
She explained that the district would receive less state funding due to declining enrollment and still had “well-deserved” raises that it needed to pay out to teachers — an expense, negotiated last year, that will cost the district $21 million. The request to voters, she said, is in order to improve conditions for the district’s children.
“We’ve done a lot in 12 years, and we’re trying to do more,” including expanding pre-Kindergarten, Autry said after the meeting. “If the levy passes, we will be in a much better position.”
The school board will have to come back next month to decide the tax rates they’ll ask voters to approve.
More on North High School
Tuesday’s vote, conducted in a quick meeting with little discussion, approved a resolution of necessity. That resolution said the money was needed for operating expenses and for “constructing, furnishing and equipping” a high school to replace the current North High School.
That building, which has been deteriorating, was slated for closure before growth in the area’s immigrant and refugee population in recent years led to the need for more space.
Autry said she was “so excited” to move the measure forward to help a growing, engaged community.
“They deserve it,” she said.
APS: More on the numbers
While the specific request wasn’t voted on Tuesday, Autry confirmed that board members are still likely to ask for an operating levy that would raise $25.7 million annually. That 7.6-mill levy would cost homeowners with an appraised value of $100,000 an additional $266 each year.
And the 1.3-mill levy for North High School would raise $4.4 million annually for 35 years to pay back an $85 million bond. For a homeowner with an appraised value of $100,000, that would be an additional $45.50 each year.
Together, if approved, the pair would cost a homeowner with a house of an appraised value of $100,000 an additional $311.50 annually.
“I know for some households, many, it’ll be a tight, tight ask,” Autry said. “I’m not sure what’s more important than investing in our children. It’s a priority for me.”
The measures were approved 6-0; the board’s vice president, Carla Jackson, wasn’t present for the vote.
Autry said passing the levies later this year would help the district avoid deficit spending and set Akron Public Schools on a better financial path.
“If the levy passes, we will be in a much better position,” she said. “In two years, I don’t want state takeover.”
Under the five-year forecast board members also approved Tuesday, the district will be in deficit spending beginning next year to the tune of $16.6 million. The forecast was approved without assuming the operating levy would be approved.
