Why now?
People often ask what happens if the Bexley school levy doesn’t pass.
That’s an important question, for sure, but there’s another question we should address too: What happens if it doesn’t pass now?
First things first: What is at stake in this levy?
The short answer is that some of the main areas at risk in Bexley are class sizes and access to the arts, sports, clubs, AP classes and foreign languages. Those features of a current Bexley education could be scaled back.
Here’s why: The district forecast shows that Bexley schools will run out of operating money by the 2021-22 fiscal year, which is one year away. By state law, the district cannot run a deficit, so the district would need to cut $2 million-$3 million, starting in the 2020 if it does not have new operating funds.
Note: These cuts would likely happen in the 2020-21 school year. More on that in a minute.
When voters reject levies, school districts typically focus first on the items that aren’t required by state or federal law. Many districts scale back busing, but Bexley is a walkable community so that busing isn’t offered here for general school transportation. Anything else that is beyond the minimum is at risk.
Second things second: What happens if this levy doesn’t pass now?
The short answer is passing Issue 6 this November is the only sure way to avoid cuts. Even if Bexley voters approve another request next year, the schools would not catch up.
The explanation below is complicated, so let start by explaining why with an analogy.
Think about your job. If raises are only delivered once a year, there’s a big impact if you skip a year.
Say you usually receive a $1,000 raise, but your boss decides not to give you one in 2020. You spend the year watching as your expenses (utilities, clothing, groceries…) climb with inflation, but you don’t have any new income to pay those costs. Even if your boss promises that you’ll get a $1,000 raise in 2021, you never make up the difference. You need to cut costs now.
For a more technical explanation, here’s why Bexley schools would face cuts:
A 2019 levy would start to be collected in the 2020 calendar year.
If Bexley voters waited until 2020 to approve a new property tax levy, those funds would not be collected until the following year – starting in January of 2021.
That means the schools would miss out on an entire year of collections — about $5 million in revenue in calendar year 2020. Worse, it means the district would likely have to make cuts even if a 2020 levy passed to adjust for the year of lost collections.
This all gets even more complicated when you consider that Bexley schools operate on the state fiscal year, which is July-June. That means the first year of a new levy is split between different fiscal years; the schools don’t get a full fiscal year of collections until six months into a new levy.
