10/20/2026
Read the latest blog post from Superintendent Trent Bowers: There will always be another levy coming...
I was recently reading a thread of comments about affordability during this time of housing inflation. One commenter wrote, “you know the schools will have another levy coming.”
I think it is important for our community to know that this is true. Under the system Ohio has set up for suburban public schools, we will always have another levy coming.
When our community approved our last operating levy in 2022, we made a clear promise. We projected those funds would last four years, which meant we would need to ask for another operating levy in 2026.
Here is the good news: we are not coming back to the ballot in 2026.
Through careful spending, cost controls, and intentional planning, we are stretching those voter-approved dollars until at least 2028!
Eventually, though, we will need to return. Under Ohio’s system, public education is a service industry. If our teachers and support staff receive a modest cost of living increase each year over four years, our expenses rise by roughly 12%. However, our revenue stays flat and may even be reduced by the State.
This happens because of House Bill 920, the Ohio law passed in 1976 that governs school funding. HB 920 was passed during a period of significant inflation to protect homeowners from rapidly rising property taxes. The state legislature attempted to lessen that burden by freezing the actual dollar amount paid to school districts and libraries, rather than freezing the tax rate.
To see how this works, consider this simple example:
Imagine you own a $100,000 house and pay 5% in taxes to your local public schools, which comes out to $5,000 a year. Three years later, county revaluations determine your house is now worth $120,000. Under HB 920, the money going to your public schools stays frozen at $5,000. The county auditor adjusts your effective tax rate down from 5% to 4.2% to ensure the dollar amount does not increase.
Because of this, school district revenue does not grow with inflation.
Over time, school districts face two choices: reduce costs by cutting staff and reducing services for students, or ask the community to approve a levy to bring in additional revenue. Before making cuts to student services, I believe the responsible approach is to give our community a choice.
We plan to present that choice to you in 2028.
It is also possible that in 2028, we will have a separate ballot question to fund elementary school facility improvements. Our Master Facilities Phase Three task force began meeting in September, and we will spend the next 18 months working with the community to build a plan. We recognize that the 2018 and 2022 ballot issues for middle and high school improvements were significant financial asks. However, the age of our facilities required major updates, that is simply the reality of maintaining buildings constructed in the 1950s and 1960s. Our community will ultimately decide what level of investment they want to support for our future.
Under Ohio’s current school financing model, suburban school districts like Worthington will always need periodic levies to maintain operations. I want to make sure we are always honest with you about how the system works and how we are managing your taxpayer dollars.
Trent Bowers, Superintendent
For context, Worthington operating levies since 2000:
- May 2001
- March 2004
- November 2009
- November 2012
- November 2018
- November 2022
