Rossford schools to ask for levy

District will ask voters in November to approve 4.49 mill, 5-year levy

7/21/2014

Rossford School District will ask voters to approve a 4.49-mill, five-year levy this November.

The school board voted this evening to put the levy on the Nov. 4 ballot. The levy will pay for operating expenses. 

Rossford voters defeated levies to update the district‘‍s aging facilities in 2010 and 2013. The board decided a year ago to shutter Indian Hills as a cost-cutting move, transferring students in prekindergarten through second grade to Glenwood Elementary, students in grades three to five to Eagle Point Elementary, and sixth graders to the junior high school.

The district has not asked voters for an operating levy in 12 years. Years of deficit spending, however, have put the district in financial difficulty and it has been operating in the red since the 2009-2010 school year. 

To slash costs district officials have cut programs such as vocational instruction and academic intervention assistants.

Without new revenue, more spending cuts, or a combination of the two, the district is projected to finish the 2014-2015 year with a deficit exceeding $600,000. The red ink grows to almost $6 million a year after that.