At 4:10 Wednesday afternoon, third- and fourth-grade girls were running in the halls at Indian Trail elementary because it was raining outside and they have a 5K race Saturday.
They belong to the national after-school program, Girls on the Run, which builds confidence and social skills through organized running. The club would have been canceled at Stow-Munroe Falls schools if the district failed to pass a 6.57-mill levy in Tuesday’s general election.
Among several cost-cutting measures, the district would have closed Indian Trail and its other school buildings at 4 p.m. to save money.
Passage won’t bring back most cuts the district already has made, but it will prevent further reductions.
“In reality, it’s just going to maintain our current operations,” Superintendent Russell Jones said, although the district will bring back high school busing, with fewer stops, starting Monday.
Stow-Munroe Falls was one of four districts locally — and among only 19 of 87 statewide — to persuade voters to pass new taxes for school operations.
Voters in Nordonia Hills, Wadsworth and Canton also approved new operating money.
Canton passed a nearly 8-mill levy comfortably, 55 percent to 45 percent, even though it represents a nearly 30 percent increase in taxes for the owner of a $100,000 home.
Overall, the passage rate for new money was 21.8 percent, down from 36 percent last May and 24 percent a year ago, according to consultant Jerry Rampelt, executive director of Support Our Schools, a nonprofit formed in early 2009 to assist small districts with levy campaigns.
Statewide, 3.5 million Ohioans voted Tuesday, a turnout of 46 percent that was somewhat higher than usual and possibly the result of the battle over state Issue 2, the referendum on a controversial law limiting collective bargaining rights for public union employees.
Rampelt thought the higher turnout (typically closer to 30 percent in nonpresidential November elections) would translate into more votes for school levies.
“This was a surprise,” he said. “They were really focusing on younger people, Democrats and union members. That’s a group that tends to be more supportive.”
But Election Day included some surprise wins, too.
“The Canton one was surprising to me,” said Rampelt, who assisted with efforts to pass levies in Canton, Stow-Munroe Falls and Nordonia Hills.
Little Miami in Warren County, which slipped into fiscal emergency last year after failing eight consecutive times to pass a levy, persuaded voters to approve a nearly 14-mill levy, winning by only 61 votes, according to Rampelt.
Nordonia Hills in northern Summit County, which also faced potential fiscal emergency, held up Little Miami as an example of what the district might have to put on the ballot if voters didn’t approve the 6-mill levy Tuesday.
“Two years ago, Nordonia lost a levy 80 [percent to] 20 [percent],” Rampelt said. “You are in a hole so deep at 80-20 that if you get double the yes vote, you still lose by 20 points.”
Other suburban districts didn’t fare so well.
Voters in the Medina, Cloverleaf and Buckeye school districts in Medina County all rejected levies.
Damon Asbury, director of legislative services for the Ohio School Boards Association, said people who move into such districts generally have high expectations regarding education.
“People oftentimes move into those suburban districts for the quality of their schools, but then they get maxed out on their own expenditures, and it’s difficult to keep passing these levies.”
Akron lost its bid to pass a 5.5-mill levy by only 394 votes out of 46,497 votes cast.
The result needed to be 162 votes closer to trigger an automatic recount.
The district has the most work to do in Ward 2 (northeast Akron), Ward 6 (Ellet), Ward 7 (South Akron), Ward 9 (Kenmore) and Ward 10 (Goodyear Heights), which all rejected the levy.
Ward 8 in northwest Akron delivered the most yes votes for the levy.
Voter turnout for the Akron levy was 39 percent.
Tax renewals did much better around the state, with 42 of 44 passing, including Aurora, Copley-Fairlawn, Crestwood, Minerva, Norton, Sandy Valley and Streetsboro.
Statewide, 21 districts attempted to pass new school construction bonds. Five were successful, but not Lake in Stark County.
John Higgins can be reached at 330-996-3792 or jhiggins@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the education blog at http://education.ohio.com/.