Chardon School District levy fails, incumbents re-elected to board

District leaders to begin eyeing budget cuts for next school year, superintendent says

A majority of Chardon School District voters rejected a 3.9-mill additional continuing operating levy on Nov. 7.

They also returned incumbents to the school board, in a three-way race for two seats.

The unofficial, final results for the levy had the issue failing 3,452 to 3,063. The tax would have yielded more than $2.5 million annually and cost a property owner $136.50 more per year per $100,000 in home value.

The levy was targeted to fund day-to-day items such as classroom instruction, student support, technology, professional development, transportation, textbooks, utilities and personnel costs.

The request had mainly to do with a reduction in funds from other sources, including the tangible personal property tax reimbursement phased out by the Ohio Legislature. The other major factor was the Legislature approved deduction of $6,010 per pupil for each of the 84 Chardon students attending charter schools.

“We are obviously disappointed that Issue 26 was not approved by our voters,” Superintendent Michael P. Hanlon said in a prepared statement. “Our volunteers worked tirelessly to communicate the key message that his levy was critical in order bridge the gap created by the actions of the Ohio Legislature to eliminate over $1 million annually from the district’s operating revenue. … On behalf of our Board of Education,

I wish to extend appreciation to the Citizens for Chardon Schools and our supporters for their continued commitment to our school district.

“The school district will immediately begin the very difficult process of identifying specific budget reductions that will be implemented in the 2018-19 school year. As we address this significant reduction in revenue, the cutbacks will certainly affect a variety of areas within the district’s operating budget including personnel, programming and services in the district. Our objective is always to implement reductions in a manner that has the least impact on the classroom and the quality of instruction that students receive in the Chardon Local Schools. Unfortunately, the amount of budget cuts necessary to overcome the loss in revenue from Columbus is significant and is likely to impact all areas of our district operations.”

No decision has been made at this time to place another operating levy on the ballot, he said.

In the School Board race, Madelon Horvath garnered 3,226 votes, Paul Stefanko 2,839, and newcomer Tony Kramer received 1,663 in unofficial final results, according to the Geauga County Elections Board.

Stefanko

Horvath