Election Results Suggest a Mixed November for School Levies and Issues

November 9, 2011 | 2:28 AM

By Molly Bloom

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Ohioans voted  2-to-1 to repeal a collective bargaining law that would have significantly changed how Ohio schools operate. But statewide results for local school tax issues were mixed.

With many counties still compiling results, most renewal levies — tax issues asking voters to re-approve existing property taxes — passed. Over the last three years, on average, about 90 percent of renewal levies in general elections passed.

(District-by-district levy and tax issue results.)

But new school tax issues, including both property and income taxes, were a different story: About a quarter of new school tax issues for which election results were available passed. That’s compared to an average passage rate over the last three years of about 35 percent.

New levies in Lakota, Akron, Cincinnati and Westerville failed. But Nordonia Hills in northeast Ohio passed its levy, thus avoiding a state takeover of the district’s finances.

Most of the school bonds on the ballot this November failed too.

There were close to 190 school issues on this general election ballot, including property tax levies, income taxes and bond issues.

Leaders in some districts, predicting a high turnout from pro-education voters motived by Issue 2, thought that getting their issues on this November’s ballot would give them an edge. With school issue results still incomplete, it’s hard to say for certain if they were right.

• District-by-district school levy, tax issue and bond issue results.