The CH-UH Board of Education wrote a letter to the community with information about Issue 109, the district's operating levy that is on the Nov. 8 ballot.
To Our Fellow Community Members:
We are writing to inform you of a step the Board of Education has taken to continue providing a strong education to each student in our community.
The Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District has placed an operating levy on the November 2016 election ballot. Issue 109 is a 5.5 mill levy, which would mean an additional property tax of $16 per month per $100,000 of home value. This amount was reviewed and recommended by the Lay Finance Committee, a group of expert community members who reported their findings to the Board of Education in the spring.
It has been five years since this district passed an operating levy request. In order to stretch that levy two years longer than expected, we have made millions in cuts while protecting classroom education.
- The district has reduced expenses by more than $8 million over the past two years:
- In Fiscal Year 2016, the district made more than $5 million in permanent budget cuts.
- Already in Fiscal Year 2017, the district has cut more than $3.25 million from its permanent budget through staffing reductions.
These cuts have also helped us to keep this levy as small as possible.
- In fact, Issue 109 is the smallest operating levy request since 1985.
The CH-UH School District has not had any increase in the dollar amount it receives from property taxes for operations since 2011, when the last levy was passed.
- The proposed levy would provide funds solely for district operations, primarily classroom instruction, educational programming and student support. The funds from this levy would not go towards any capital or facilities projects.
Like every school district in Ohio, the CH-UH City School District is forced to periodically ask residents for increased operating support to pay for educational necessities such as teachers and educational programming. As we do so, we are committed to providing you with the factual information you need to make your decision.
Sincerely,
Your CH-UH Board of Education
Kal Zucker, President
Ron Register, Vice President
Jim Posch
Eric J. Silverman
Beverly Wright