Frequently Asked Questions

This is an operating levy, which means its proceeds will flow into the District’s general fund. This is how the District pays for the day-to-day costs of operating a school district - largely the costs of instruction for 4,000+ students in Lakewood. The funds will be used to sustain academic and extracurricular programs and student supports, attract and retain teachers and support staff, and keep technology and safety & security measures up to date.

The levy would increase property taxes in Lakewood by $14/month for every $100,000 property valuation. If you are a renter, your landlord will determine how to handle the tax increase. You can look up your most recent property assessment here and calculate what it will mean for you.

Strong schools support a strong community. The quality of our schools attracts families to Lakewood, making it a desirable place to live. Our students grow up to be city, community, business leaders, and it’s important that we ensure that they have the knowledge and skills to be the residents, neighbors, and leaders we need in Lakewood and beyond.

The last operating levy passed in 2020 with 77% of the vote. Most districts go back to their voters every 3-4 years to ask for additional funds, and our District’s ability to stretch the last levy is a sign of strong stewardship of our financial resources. Asking for a new levy less frequently also allows our District more confidently to plan for the long term.

State law HB 920 - enacted in 1976 - says that school levies, which provide funding for district operations, do not increase with inflation and are not pegged to rising property values. Therefore, new operating levies are an essential and routine part of Ohio school finance. The last time the district passed a levy was 2020, so generally speaking, the district is collecting “2020 dollars” which have not been adjusted for inflation and changing property values.

After careful and thoughtful financial analysis and planning, the District has determined that May 2026 is the right time to seek voter approval for additional operating funds. The District is projected to begin running deficits in fiscal year ‘25 and every year in the future due to rising costs, like healthcare and energy costs, and flat revenues.

Waiting would not reduce the district's financial need - it would increase it. Here's why:

• Operating costs increase each year, including utilities, insurance, and personnel.
• Revenue from existing levies remains flat. Voter-approved levies do not grow with inflation (or with increasing property values).
• When expenses grow but revenue does not, the District must use cash reserves to cover the difference.
• The longer action is delayed, the more reserves are depleted.
• As reserves decline, a future levy would likely need to be larger to restore financial stability.

Businesses and households need sufficient cash on hand to pay for ordinary and the occasional extraordinary expenses (ever have your water heater go out unexpectedly?), and schools do, too. Cash balances can fluctuate within the year because expenses occur every month, but property tax revenue (over 60% of the District’s budget) only comes in twice a year. Having sufficient cash balance is considered a best financial practice, and a low cash balance can hurt a district’s bond rating and increase the cost of borrowing money in the future. The state also requires that school districts keep cash on-hand.

It is also important to understand the timing:

• If approved in May 2026, the levy would not begin collecting until January 2027.
• The District would receive only a half year of revenue in Fiscal Year 2027.
• A full year of collections would not be realized until Fiscal Year 2028.

Taking action now allows the District to plan responsibly and stabilize finances before reserves are further reduced. Simply put, delaying the levy does not lower the need - it increases it. Waiting would likely result in a higher millage rate in the future to generate the same level of support.

The District has refinanced and advance refunded various debts over the past six years. As a result, two mills will be expiring from the District’s financial books. That debt service reduction means that the millage levied on taxpayers would effectively be 4.9 mills instead of the 6.9 mills Lakewood voters will see on the ballot.

Districts can ask voters to approve different kinds of levies, including operating levies like this one, permanent improvement levies that would pay for repairs to buildings or for equipment, and bond issuances that would pay for new school construction or significant renovations. Funds raised from each of these types can only be spent in accordance with that type of levy.

In our case, our District needs to pay two mills less on its bond issuances, but it cannot directly transfer those two mills that we’ve been paying into operating funds. The law requires voters to approve a separate tax, which is why you’ll see the 6.9 mills on the ballot. Your effective change will be 4.9 mills, or about $14 per month per $100,000 of property valuation.

The District has taken steps to retire certain debts and other fiscal obligations to lower the tax impact for Lakewood property owners. That makes the effective tax rate two mills less than it would have been otherwise.

The District has engaged in shared purchasing and cooperative agreements with other west side districts, saving over $861,000 over the past two fiscal years. These agreements include electricity, natural gas, and waste management contracts.

Another one is the strategic right-sizing of staff when retirements/separations occur. Whenever someone departs, the district has been closely analyzing the position to see if it’s still needed given our current enrollment. The district is now at about the right staffing size without having to lay anyone off.

Lakewood City School District has received clean audit awards from the state every year for the past decade.

We’re operating in a spirit of optimism, and passing the levy will help set the District on a more sustainable path for the future. If we are unable to pass a levy, the District and Board would have a hard set of choices in front of them. You can look at the news stories from nearby communities to see what that looks like. Plenty of people in Lakewood remember what happened when we failed to pass levies in the early-90s (shortened school day, larger class sizes, cuts to music and arts programming).

Those conversations are all important, but no matter your position, this is how we fund schools in Ohio right now. We can’t afford to not fund our schools in the hopes of a better or different system appearing.

The recent law changes do not have an effect on Lakewood’s current funding. However, a wide variety of additional tax changes continue to be proposed that might affect Lakewood’s funding.

No, the levy will not impact the decision about using Lincoln as an elementary school. No matter what the Board decided last fall, there was going to be a levy on the ballot this year. What did change was the amount of the ask: if we continued to operate all seven elementary schools, the millage would be 1.5-1.9 mills higher. We know that this remains a contentious topic for some, but the core issue remains: our schools need adequate funding to continue to deliver the quality and breadth of education and support that our kids deserve.

Our general education preschool offerings are self-funded. Parents pay tuition to enroll in our preschool offerings, which then pay for staff, supplies, etc.