Battle of ‘Tiger Nation’ continues over Issue 69; Cleveland Heights-University Heights school levy seeking reduced 4.8 mills

Cleveland Heights High School

Prior to passage of the last successful CH-UH operating levy for 5.5 mills in November 2016, voters three years earlier approved a $135 million bond issue to be paid over 38 years to cover the major renovation of Heights High, as well as upgrades at Monticello and Roxboro middle schools.

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio -- “Tiger Nation” remains divided over Issue 69, the 4.8-mill operating levy that appears on the Nov. 3 General Election ballot.

The division even extends to naming rights for the political action committees on both sides of the issue, which would cost the owner of a home valued at $100,000 an additional $168 a year, working out to about $14 a month.

Supporters with the newly named political action committee Tiger Nation for Strong Schools, formerly Citizens for Our Heights Schools, argue out that this is the “smallest levy ask in more than 25 years.”

The request comes on the heels of a defeat by 600 votes of a 7.9-mill operating levy in the spring, with just under 13,000 votes cast overwhelmingly by mail during the coronavirus state health emergency, when the polls were closed for the original March 17 primary.

Opposing the levy is Tiger Nation 4 Lower Taxes, the PAC maintaining that taxpayers deserve “accountability and transparency” from the district, which is already one of the most “generously funded” in the state.

With 1 mill generating about $1.1 million in the district, the new levy, if passed, would provide close to $5.3 million more per year.

The last operating levy passed by voters came in November 2016, a scaled-down 5.5-mill version that was presented after a slightly higher proposal was defeated in May 2015.

An average of $750,000 in annual budget cuts ensued over the next five years, coupled with an additional $2.1 million in cuts made after the defeat of the latest levy this past spring.

Levy opponents are still calling for a performance audit to be conducted by the state, although Tiger Nation for Strong Schools counters that commissioning one now would make little sense while school buildings remain closed due to the pandemic and operations cannot be considered “normal” yet.

EdChoice vouchers

Another drain on district funds comes in the form of EdChoice tuition vouchers for students who live in the district but attend private schools.

The CH-UH school board has signed on with the “Vouchers Hurt Ohio” coalition and the possibility of a potential lawsuit over as much as $9 million in state funding that is being siphoned elsewhere.

Tiger Nation 4 Lower Taxes disputes those figures, claiming they have been inflated.

“Issue 69 is not a referendum on EdChoice, which should be addressed through advocacy with the state legislature,” said Maureen “Mo” Lynn, TN4LT treasurer. “EdChoice vouchers are funded by the state -- not local property taxes.”

Tiger Nation for Strong Schools contends that the loss in state funding translates directly into local property taxes.

“The role of EdChoice is huge in that, if CH-UH was not forced to pay out EdChoice tuition vouchers, there would be no levy on the ballot this year,” levy supporters said.,

Along with the ongoing coronavirus health emergency that closed buildings in March and led to online classes being conducted at least through the first quarter of this year, the school board remains mired in stalled contract talks with its teachers' union, with a “last, best and final offer” on a proposed one-year contract presented Tuesday (Sept. 29).

This includes no raise and an increase in individual healthcare packages in January from the previous 6 percent employee contribution to 15 percent, which school board members noted is more in line with comparable districts.

“Our teachers deserve better,” noted CH-UH school board member Dan Heintz, who teaches in the Chardon Local School District. “Unfortunately, ‘better’ is not available right now.”

Auditor update

Separate from the PAC campaigns, resident Garry Kanter learned last week that the Ohio Auditor’s Special Investigations Unit will not be pursuing taxpayer complaints he filed over six surveys commissioned by the district, dating back to 2007, that may have been improper attempts to sway voters to support past levies.

The auditor’s special unit has recommended a “finding for recovery” on the most recent voter survey, for which the district paid around $35,000 to consultants last year.

That remains a “recommendation” to the state auditor’s office, with a decision not expected until possibly the end of the year, Kanter said.

As for the other six complaints from prior years, Kanter was told those should have been filed with the most recent instance.

“They don’t reopen completed audits,” Kanter said, adding that state auditors suggested that he forward the new information to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, “as they have jurisdiction.”

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