Property tax questions trail only data centers in reader response here at the Pennant, and it's not close. Across Ohio, levies have been failing more than they're passing this cycle. Just 24 of 66 school levies passed statewide this past May — about 36%, down from 64% in May 2025 and 52% in May 2024. That's a trend colliding head-on with rising property valuations, and voters are noticing.
We've spent a big chunk of the summer communicating with people on both sides, including anti-levy voices from a northeastern Ohio district coming off a failed levy — one that has since shifted strategy entirely, moving away from a property tax levy toward a local income tax increase instead — and a central Ohio district with one of the state's stronger track records at the ballot box. What separates that district isn't luck.
Research on Ohio levy campaigns points to the same handful of habits again and again: proactive, two-way communication with residents well before a levy ever reaches the ballot, regular reporting on how prior levy money was actually spent, and consistent messaging built on community input rather than a campaign built from scratch the moment the district needs money. Districts that do this tend to earn trust before they ever ask for a vote.
We also talked to an elections consultant who works almost exclusively on campaigns for levy passage — informational conversations, not advocacy on our end.
One thing applies to almost all of it: pro-levy campaigns mostly run on emotion — pride, excellence, "our kids deserve it" — but the ones that actually win pair that message with real operational discipline: building momentum through early voting and following up on mail-in ballots that haven't come back yet.
Anti-levy voters mostly run the numbers on their own household budget, the real-world stuff: funding a college education, a retirement account, whatever's actually sitting on the kitchen table. Even in wealthy districts, the answer isn't always "no" — but rather, "this isn't the time."
But the emotion isn't manufactured. When levies fail, oftentimes real things get cut. Streetsboro schools eliminated junior varsity and freshman sports and raised pay-to-play fees after a third straight levy failure. Westerville City Schools has warned a failed levy could cost 120 positions, including art and music. Reynoldsburg laid off more than 50 teachers after its levy failed. That's the other side of the ledger, and it's just as real as any spreadsheet.
Financial accountability, meanwhile, is genuinely hard to explain, because no two districts — city, suburb, rural — operate the same way. Residents opposed to Upper Arlington's levy sent us public financial records, which we took to our expert. We approached it the way a freshman approaches an algebra word problem — see where the numbers take you. Two things stood out.
Enrollment in the district grew just 0.26% last year, while administrative spending grew 5.80% — more than 20 times faster, and accelerating from the year before. And a category the state's own data simply calls "Other and Non-Specified Support Services" jumped by half a million dollars in a single year after sitting flat the year prior, with no public breakdown of what's actually in it.
To be fair, neither number proves mismanagement or irresponsible spending on its own. Things like inflation, health costs, and state mandates hit every district, and Upper Arlington's classroom instruction spending actually grew faster than administration did last year. But these are the kind of questions that get lost under yard signs and buried on door-hanging cards with catchy slogans. And they're not unique to one district. Any district asking voters for more should be able to answer these five:
How does administrative spending growth compare to enrollment growth? If enrollment is flat, a spending gap that keeps widening needs an explanation, not just a bigger number.
Is there a large spending category the district hasn't clearly explained? A vague label covering a sudden jump deserves an itemized answer.
How much does the district hold in cash reserves, and what does its Five-Year Forecast project? Public record, filed with the state, for every district in Ohio.
Has the state auditor flagged anything in recent reviews? Available for any district at ohioauditor.gov.
Why this levy, at this size, at this moment — alongside property taxes that are already climbing?
Voting yes isn't a blank check. Voting no isn't anti-school. It's a household deciding what fits a budget in a weak economy, in the middle of a property tax fight — a decision every family makes, in every district, wealthy or not. Take the emotion out. Residents are customers; districts owe them a return on investment and a straight answer, not a campaign.
One thing we've noticed this cycle: fewer campaigns are telling us it's "just the cost of a cup of coffee a day" anymore. Then again, have you seen the price of coffee lately?
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