Ohio voters approved roughly half the local school tax measures on their ballots last week.
Combined with the results of voting in March and August, the outcome of the Nov. 2 balloting means that Ohio’s passage rate for school tax measures for the entire year stands at 44.9 percent. That rate is the lowest since 1993, when only 41.3 percent of tax measures received voter support.
Last week’s ballots contained 286 school tax measures from 270 school districts—the most in any election in the state in more than 20 years. Voters supported 144 of those measures, for a passage rate of 50.3 percent. The ballot questions included operating levies, bond issues for school facilities, and other types of education measures.
The measures that were approved included tax-levy renewals in Cincinnati and Toledo and a property-tax increase in Columbus. A proposed property-tax increase in Cleveland failed. (“Local Voters Decide Tax, Governance Questions,” this issue.)
