PERRYSBURG, Ohio — With student population expected to grow in the next five years, Perrysburg Schools will ask voters to pass a levy in November to raise additional school funding.
If the levy passes, it would generate $7 million each year over the next five years starting in the 2019-2020 school year, according to superintendent Tom Hosler.
Hosler said the levy would be an incremental levy, meaning a set dollar amount would be collected each year over the next five years through property taxes. The money would be used to hire teachers, bus drivers, purchase school furniture and fund the district overall.
Perrysburg Schools receive 27% of its funding from the state. But, Hosler said the district will not receive additional state funding even as the district continues to grow.
This is what would happen if the levy fails on November 5, 2019. By January 2020, the district would implement $2.7 million of mid-year reductions. An additional $5.9 million would be made in cuts by August 2020 prior to the start of the 2020-2021 school year.
Hosler said that even with the proposed levy, Perrysburg schools spend less than the statewide average to educate a child. In Perrysburg, the cost per pupil is $11,577.68. The statewide average is $11,953.14.
"If we don't receive that money, we'll have another conversation later in the campaign to talk about what happens if it doesn't pass because if we don't have those funds, we have have to make big reductions," Hosler said.
In the past 12 years, residents have approved an incremental levy from 2004-2016.