MEDINA, Ohio — Medina City Schools says it is facing a dire financial forecast if the district does not pass an emergency levy in November. This is the district's third attempt to pass the levy in the last year.
"If we don't pass this levy, the effects to Medina are going to be devastating," Victoria Druley, a mother of four children enrolled in Medina City Schools, says. "We will not recognize the district."
Druley is also the co-chair of Kids First Medina, the levy committee for MCS with a "mission to work in partnership with the Medina City School District to support and enhance the education of all students."
"This levy isn't just about the schools; it's about maintaining Medina as a place that people want to work, live, and invest," Druley added. "The correlation between strong schools and a strong community is undeniable."
LEVY DETAILS
Medina is seeking to generate approximately $14 million per year through a 7.5 millage, 10-year emergency levy. According to the district, it will cost homeowners $263 for every $100,000 of auditor-assessed home value per year for a decade.
"We're now in a position where our backs are really against the wall," Medina Superintendent Aaron Sable told 3News.
According to officials, the school system has already made $4 million in cuts for the 2024-25 school year, which included four administrators, 22 teachers, and 22 support staffers. The cuts follow the failure of a continuous operating levy in March.
Voters also denied a combined bond issue and levy in November 2023. That measure failed by a little more than 2,500 votes.
'A REVENUE ISSUE'
"The message that I've been really trying to share with our community is that it really isn't a spending issue that we're facing," Sable explained. "It's a revenue issue."
Sable says Medina City Schools has not received new operating money since a five-year emergency levy passed in 2013 and was renewed in 2018. The district also reports a $3 million decrease in funding from the state since the 2016-17 school year.
"We can't afford to go backwards," Druley asserted. "The only way to go forward is passing this levy."
MORE CUTS LOOM
If the November measure fails, officials with Medina City Schools say the district will need to slash an additional $8 million from the budget, cuts which will be implemented for the 2025-26 school year. Staffing cuts would include three administrators, three prevention staff, 15 support staff, and 50 teachers.
The district will also implement "grade-level buildings" for kindergarten through fourth grade by assigning one grade level each to five separate buildings. This means students will switch school buildings every year as they move from kindergarten to fifth grade.
Proposed cuts outlined by the district are as follows:
- Grade band schools to reduce personnel (K building,1st grade building, 2nd grade building, 3rd grade building, 4th grade building)
- Move 5th grade to Root making it a 5/6 upper elementary building
- Claggett will transition to a 7/8 junior high building
- Elimination of teaming at the middle schools
- Reduction of electives and AP offerings at high school
- Elimination of gifted services
- Elimination of high school bussing due to elementary bussing K-5
- Reduction of media services
- Reduction of curriculum instructional coaches
- Reduction of counseling and mental health supports
- Reduction of administrators
- Reduction of funding for safety and security upgrades
- Further reduction of building and departmental budgets
- Move to the calculation per sport and extra curriculars for pay to participate
- Reductions in coaching and supplemental contracts depending on participation levels
"These are the facts of what our reality is going into next school year if we're not successful in November," Sable said. "It's absolutely devastating for the district. It would take us back 13 years to the position we were in prior to the last passing of new money for the school district, and at that time, massive reductions had to go into place."