(Wood Co., Ohio) Two Northwest Ohio school districts are asking voters to approve two levies apiece on Tuesday.
Benton-Carroll-Salem educators are facing a possible financial crisis with the looming closure of the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant, a big contributor to district coffers in both property and income tax. Voters will be asked to make up some of an estimated $4.5 million funding shortfall-- a property tax and income tax measure are each on the May primary ballot.
The Liberty-Benton school district has two levy renewals on the same ballot, but the superintendent says that's simply because the two ballot issues are on the same cycle after separate votes in the past. Those levies are for operations and won't mean any new money, raising one-point $4 million annually to replace school buses and other big-ticket items.
The future of education in Bowling Green depends on bringing back a bond issue.
BG educators will try a second time to pass a $72 million bond issue during Tuesday's May primary-- which would be used to consolidate three elementary school buildings and renovate the high school at its current campus. The bond issue lost by 550 votes last November, with just a 25 percent turnout.
The superintendent expects more people at the polls with statewide offices to be decided, too, this time. B-G administrators recently gave public tours of three crumbling schools, hoping to convince skeptical voters of the need for a rebuild or renovations.