School Board To Decide On Levy With State Funding Uncertainty Looming

The Twinsburg Board of Education has to make a tough decision in the next few weeks on whether they should proceed with a levy on the May ballot.

The school board is seeking residents' opinions on what it should do. A public forum is scheduled for 7 p.m. Feb. 27 at R.B. Chamberlin Middle School to discuss questions surrounding state education funding and the local levy decision.

Earlier this month, Gov. John Kasich released his education funding proposal, which supposedly would give Twinsburg Schools a whopping $2.8 million more in 2013, or a 104 percent increase in state funding.

Right now, district officials have too many questions and are leery of trusting the numbers. Kasich's proposal is destined to change as the state legislature starts to haggle out a two-year budget, which should be finalized in June.

And there's the rub. Between now and June, when the state budget picture becomes clear, Twinsburg residents are set to vote on a 6.9-mill renewal levy in May.

The school board has to decide by March 15 whether it wants to continue with holding the renewal levy in May.

The district has numerous concerns about the proposal, but basically they are concerned that the state aid numbers aren't what they appear to be or that the state will turn around and take from elsewhere, essentially negating the increase.

Twinsburg officials are righly concerned about whether the perception of a big windfall from the state will impact voters at the ballot box.

"The fact is there are a lot of questions still hanging out about the Achievement Everywhere proposal," said Superintendent Karthryn Powers about Kasich's education plan.

School board members point out that even if the state fund boost happens, its still only a 6 percent increase in the district's roughly $40 million budget.

Here's the numbers in Kasich's plan:

Last fall, Twinsburg taxpayers approved new levy dollars to fund the schools, with 54 percent of voters supporting the new tax dollars.

The 6.9-mill renewal levy scheduled for a vote in May would generate $4.4 million annually. An affirmative vote by residents in May would make the levy more permanent because the levy will now be continually funded and not up for vote every five years.