This article provides a brief overview of school levies on the ballot in the May 3, 2022 primary election. A complete list of local issues on the May 2022 ballot in the primary election is included at the end of this article and can also be found on the Ohio Secretary of State’s website at: https://www.sos.state.oh.us/elections/voters/about-this-election/

Election results from prior years (which includes school levy data beginning in 2013) can be accessed from the Secretary of State website by selecting the year in question at:
http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/elections/Research/electResultsMain.aspx

Table 1 provides a summary of the number and type of school levies on the ballot in Ohio’s primary election over the last 5 years. Table 1 shows that the number of levies on the primary has been roughly 20-25% lower the past 2 years than from 2018-2020.  2021 and 2022 of course reflect the years of the pandemic which may contribute to districts’ reluctance to ask voters for levy approval.

Table 1: School Levies on the Primary Ballot 2018-2022, By Type

Table 2 provides a more detailed breakdown of capital levies (defined as bond levies, permanent improvement (PI) levies and combination bond/PI levies) on the ballot in Ohio’s primary election from 2018-2022.  Table 2 shows that while 2021 was slightly lower and 2019 was slightly higher, the number of capital levies has been fairly stable over the past 5 years, averaging 22.4 levies per year. The majority of capital levies are typically new levies as bond and combination levies are always “new” as they cannot be renewed.  Capital levies historically pass 60-65% of the time in Ohio.

Table 2: Capital Levies on the Primary Ballot 2018-2022, By Type

Table 3 provides a more detailed breakdown of operating levies on the ballot from 2018-2022. The data in Table 3 show that over the past 5 years emergency levies typically account for roughly one half (or more) of school operating levies on the primary ballot in Ohio. Note that substitute levies, which allow districts to aggregate existing emergency levies, are counted as emergency levies. Among the other types of operating levies, property tax current expenses levies (83 on the ballot in the last 5 primary elections) and school district income tax (SDIT) levies (80 on the primary ballot over the last 5 years) are roughly evenly split. “Other” operating levies (defined as those for county financing districts, technology levies and school safety & security levies) have comprised only a very small share of operating levies on the ballot in recent primary elections.

Table 3: Operating Levies on the Primary Ballot 2018-2022, By Type

* Emergency levies include substitute levies.

** Other operating levies include technology, safety & security, & county financing district levies

Table 4 provides additional insight on operating levies on the ballot in Ohio by providing a breakdown of new levies, renewal levies, and replacement levies. New levies are defined as those that are placing new millage on the ballot, renewal levies are renewing existing term-limited levies and replacement levies (which are rarely used) restore a levy to its originally voted millage level after it has been reduced by the impact of HB 920 rolling back the voted rate. Substitute levies are considered here to be emergency renewal levies .

Table 4: Operating Levies on the Primary Ballot 2018-2022, By Type

Table 4 shows that roughly 60% of operating levies on the ballot in the primary election from 2018 to 2021 were renewal levies, with the percentage of renewals increasing to over 70% this year. The percentage of school levies on the ballot that have been renewals has been steadily increasing in Ohio over the past 25 years. From 1994-1997 82% of school levies were new levies.  This percentage decreased to 67% from 1998-2006, to 57.5% from 2007-2013 and to only 32% from 2014-2020.  While renewal levies are more successful at the ballot (renewal levies typically pass 90% of the time while new levies have passed at roughly a 40% rate in recent years), renewal levies typically do not bring in additional tax dollars whereas new levies do.

Thus, it is the expectation here that the majority of operating levies on the ballot will pass next week because more than two-thirds of the levies on the ballot are renewals.  While this will certainly be good news in school districts that are facing expiring levies, the increase in revenue will likely be less than if the levies were new rather than renewals.

Table 5 provides a complete list of school levies on Ohio’s May 3, 2022 primary ballot.

Table 5 May 3, 2022 Primary Election School levies By Type

* “CPT” means Continuing Period of Time (i.e unexpiring levy)

Table 5 May 3, 2022 Primary Election School levies By Type, Continued

Table 5 May 3, 2022 Primary Election School levies By Type, Continued