STRONGSVILLE, Ohio – Strongsville City Schools would completely eliminate bus service for 11th- and 12th-graders if voters fail to pass Issue 53, a 4.9-mill property tax, on Nov. 5.
Also, school buses would stop picking up K-10 pupils living between 1 mile and 1 ½ miles from their schools and would only transport those living 1 ½ miles or more from their schools.
In addition, the school district would increase by $50 the fee pupils pay to participate in a sport. The fee is now $200 a sport for high schoolers and $100 a sport for middle schoolers, with a family cap of $600, plus a $20 trainer fee.
The district would also reduce the number of course offerings and eliminate some clubs and groups, although it hasn’t yet determined which courses and clubs would be cut.
If Issue 53 isn’t passed, the district would stop awarding incentive field trips for high-performing pupils and would stop adding new educational programs.
These were just some of the potential cuts announced by schools Superintendent Cameron Ryba at the Sept. 26 school board meeting.
“The decisions we would have to make as a board would be severe,” board President Richard Micko said.
“”It would be an elimination of all the things that we are certainly proud of and that we can point to that have been the reason that we have been excellent in the last five years, not just resting on our laurels but looking forward to how we can be better,” Micko said.
“We are at, to be trite, a crossroads,” Micko said. “We are in a position where we can decide to continue the progress, continue the positive momentum, or we can decide to move backwards.”
A few numbers
The Issue 53 tax levy would replace a five-year, 5.9-mill levy renewal that failed on the ballot in March and November 2023.
Unlike the levy that failed, the Issue 53 tax would be continuous, meaning that it would not appear on the ballot every five years but remain in place permanently unless the board decided otherwise in future years.
Schools Treasurer George Anagnostou said the 4.9-mill levy would generate about $9.2 million a year. Comparatively, the 5.9-mill levy would have brought in about $9.9 million a year.
If voters approve Issue 53 this fall, property owners would pay $172 annually for each $100,000 in property valuation toward the new levy, Anagnostou said.
Anagnostou said that if Issue 53 fails, the schools would have to cut $3 million from the operating budget in fiscal year 2026 and another $3.5 million from the budget in fiscal year 2027 for a total of $6.5 million in reductions.
The cuts would continue to accumulate, reaching a total of $9.5 million in fiscal year 2028. The district would start deficit spending, using savings to balance the budget until the savings are wiped out.
A few details
Here is a rundown of additional cuts the district would make if Issue 53 fails Nov. 5, according to Ryba. The district would:
· Eliminate teacher, substitute teacher, administrative, support, leadership and stipend positions. The precise numbers have not yet been determined. For some positions not eliminated, work hours might be reduced.
· Freeze or reduce general fund support for athletics. Now, the district’s general fund sends $1.3 million to the athletics budget to pay for personnel costs, plus another $233,169 for non-personnel expenses. The total athletics budget is $1.8 million, Anagnostou said.
· Discontinue or reduce the number of “extended days” for certain staffers like psychologists and school counselors. Extended days allow these employees to complete their work in the summer months. They’re paid at a per-day rate beyond the time established in their contracts.
· Provide less professional development or ongoing training for staffers.
· Reduce the number of athletic, nonathletic and music supplemental contracts, which pay for work outside the school day. These include contracts for coaching, leading clubs and academic competition teams and directing plays and marching bands.
· Increase by $20 the fees pupils pay to rent musical instruments. The fee is now $30.
· Hike by $10 a month the tuition families pay for preschool. The tuition is now $140 a month.
· Raise the pupil classroom limit for second- and third-graders from 25 to 30.
· Reduce individual building budgets by 15 percent.
· Eliminate a $30,000 fund that pays for new musical instruments and sheet music.
· Reexamine free summer school offerings, possibly adding fee requirements.
· Cut back on certain budget line items like technology infrastructure, Chromebooks, software, textbooks, business-services equipment, furniture, repairs and building maintenance.
Last month, the Strongsville school board promised to eliminate tuition for all-day kindergarten — although it would cap the number of pupils participating — if voters approve Issue 53.
The district also would get rid of pay-to-participate athletic and training fees — along with certain student fees, including those for lab work and physical education — if Issue 53 passes, the board said.
