A Promise Kept: No Tax Renewal for Euclid Schools

Beginning in January 2023, Euclid property owners should notice a drop in their tax bills because a $5.2 million emergency school tax levy is set to expire at the end of this year.

“We promised voters that if the State of Ohio ever fairly funded schools, we would relieve some of the burden on our taxpayers,” said Donna Sudar, Euclid’s Board of Education president at the time the decision was made to let the renewal fall off.

Several factors contributed to the district’s improved financial outlook, including voter support of a levy in November 2020 and long-awaited changes to the state’s public school funding model. Ohio’s new Fair School Funding Plan (FSFP) was approved by the State Legislature in July 2021 with bipartisan support for an initial 2-year phase. Ideally, the plan will be fully funded over six years, but each phase needs to be approved during the state’s biennial budget cycles — 2021, 2023, and 2025.

Once fully funded, the FSFP will remedy many of the failures of the old system and make school funding more equitable and constitutional. According to the nonprofit research institute Policy Matters Ohio, communities like Euclid, where many residents have low incomes, “struggled to pay for the basics like updated resources and teaching materials.” At the same time, the state “diverted almost $1 billion a year from local levies to private and charter schools.” Under the previous funding model, school districts where students already faced many barriers to success were further harmed by a public school system that relied too heavily on property taxes.

“We know that we were pushing our residents to the max in terms of what they were comfortable paying to support the schools,” said Sudar, who plans to retire from the school board when her term expires at the end of 2023. “We could finally afford to do this, and we knew it was the right thing to do.”

Superintendent Chris Papouras points out that Euclid has been careful to use its COVID-19 Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds (ESSER) in ways that will bring long-term stability to the district, such as staffing, student support programs, quality curriculum, school safety, and the new Education Options center. Treasurer Steve Vasek also credits an increase in income tax from the Amazon warehouse for helping improve the school’s 5-year financial forecast with over $2 million in additional revenue.

The current five-year forecast shows a stable trajectory for Euclid City Schools, but all eyes are on the Ohio Legislature and Governor to ensure it continues. Public school funding must be prioritized in the state’s next two budget cycles. With that in mind, the Board of Education encourages Euclid residents to ask candidates about their stance on public school funding and to hold elected officials accountable.

Euclid Board of Education meetings are open to the public and live-streamed. Visit euclidschools.org for upcoming meeting dates, agendas, and recordings of past meetings.