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Group that campaigned against Perrysburg school levy shares what they want to see next

A spokesperson for Perrysburg Stands Up says they're not against school levies but want more transparency.

PERRYSBURG, Ohio —

A week after Perrysburg schools' levy failed, the group that campaigned against it is sharing what it wants to see happen next.

"Many of us are very anxious to be able to get behind the levy that we can support," Marie Ermie, spokesperson for Perrysburg Stands Up, said.

The district asked voters to pass an incremental operating levy that would bring $13.5 million in the first year and another $2 million each year after that until 2031.

It would have replaced the current levy that expires in January.

Ermie said the group didn't feel the growth of the city matched what they were being asked to pay by the school board.

"You hear that it's 2% a year for the past 10 years, then you hear these numbers that don't relate to 2%, they're a lot more. But in actuality over the last year, it was less than 1%," Ermie said. "But yet our expenses are a lot higher than that, so we'd like to know why."

As a result of the failure, Superintendent Tom Hosler has said there will be a number of changes.

Those include increased class sizes, no field trips and a reduction of clubs and activities.

Ermie said the group doesn't understand why that much has to be affected.

"We have at least $25 million in reserves in an operations fund and more than that in other funds in reserve," she said. "So if you take that and combine it with some cuts, I think that they could gain some time so that they can have a strategic plan put together before they put something back on the ballot."

The group isn't against seeing something else on the ballot.

Ermie said they want to see what they're calling a financially responsible, long-term plan.

"Their mission statement is solely focused on the student. In my opinion, that has to be balanced with a budget that works for the taxpayers as well," Ermie said.

WTOL 11 reached out to Perrysburg schools for a statement but the district was not available on Wednesday. WTOL 11 is hoping to connect with the district on Thursday for a statement.

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