It is important for the average citizen to understand what they are up against when they see a school levy on the ballot.

Jerry Rampelt is the founder of Support Ohio Schools and has assisted over 300 levy campaigns in the past ten years. He is the the author of The Levy Book, which is the first Ohio book about conducting levy campaigns. He is a frequent speaker at conferences about levy campaigns.

Support Ohio Schools is an Ohio based non-profit company that provides seminars  on how to improve their chances at passing a levy.

Here is a flyer for their April 24, 2020 seminar:  Levy University (OSBA) April 2020 flyer

Here is their website:   https://supportohioschools.com/about/

Here is the Ohio School Board website:  https://www.ohioschoolboards.org/school-finance

Here is an excerpt from their finance page:
“Ohio’s school funding system is based on a theory of “shared responsibility,” where both the state and local community must bear a proportional responsibility for making certain every student has the opportunity to receive an adequate education. Over the years, however, the unique fiscal and social characteristics of individual districts have combined with political realities to create a system that produces wide variations in spending, facilities, materials and programs.

Many districts rely on levies to make up the difference between what the state provides and what the district needs. OSBA has compiled a levy results database that shows which school tax issues have been most successful.

A glossary of terms can clarify the technical terms used to describe the various levies.

For questions about school finance, please contact Jennifer Hogue at jhogue@ohioschoolboards.org; Will Schwartz at wschwartz@ohioschoolboards.org; Nicole Piscitani at npiscitani@ohioschoolboards.org or call (614) 540-4000. ”

Here is a link to the website that tracks the levy results for all levies in the State of Ohio: https://fms.ohioschoolboards.org/fmi/webd/LevyResults

We have no doubt that every school levy is a well orchestrated campaign to get the levy passed by any means necessary.

Categories: Real Estate Taxes, Tax Levies, Uncategorized

Tags: FT, Property Tax