Voters in the South-Western City Schools district have rejected a 9.7 mil tax levy. The levy lost by 721 votes. It was one of more than 60 school funding issues on the ballot in Ohio yesterday.
This was the second time in 3 months that the South Western City Schools had taken their plea for school funding to the voters. When the levy failed in November the board of education approved more than $12-million in cuts for next school year, to bridge a projected deficit. Now that the second levy attempt has failed, district Superintendent Kirk Hamilton says those cuts will become a reality.
About 100 parents, teachers and students gathered Tuesday night at the South Western Career Academy in Grove City to wait for the election returns to come in. As district officials posted the final results, parent Cindy Rawlins cried. She has a daughter who is a Grove City High School freshman and a son who is a junior.
Mascara ran from the corners of her eyes as Rawlins listed all the programs that would be cut if the district follows through on its lean budget plan.
District officials have just over a week to decide whether they want to take the levy back to the ballot in May.
