Across Ohio during election night, only one in four school districts successfully received voter approval for tax increases in the November 2026 elections.
In Northeast Ohio, unofficial results from Tuesday night showed new levy requests from local school districts fared slightly better, with around one in three seeing success.
Still, the levy failures throughout the region will now trigger tough conversations for leaders at districts like Willoughby-Eastlake, Barberton and Amherst. The future of Amherst Exempted Village Schools is "increasingly uncertain," Superintendent Mike Molnar said in a letter to the community Wednesday.
Nothing's decided yet, but, future cuts will affect students after the district already slashed $13 million from its budget this year, Molnar said in a follow-up interview Thursday.
"We've lost counselors, we've lost support staff, aides, monitors, bus drivers, custodians, cleaners, administrators, so we've run the gamut, and so some of those things will happen again," Molnar explained. "We did not touch any sports or athletics or extracurricular activities but that's all on the table now."
At Willoughby-Eastlake, officials previously said plans for cuts included layoffs and consolidating schools. Superintendent Patrick Ward said Wednesday the district will be hiring a third-party consultant to review finances and make recommendations on "how to operate more efficiently."
"Thank you to everyone in our community who took the time to ask questions, learn more, and vote on Issue 8," the district wrote in a separate statement Wednesday. "With Issue 8's failure, we face important decisions about the future of Willoughby-Eastlake City Schools. Throughout this process, our students will remain at the center of our decisions. We are committed to communicating clearly as we navigate the future together. Willoughby-Eastlake's Shared Vision will continue to guide us as we continue to create meaningful experiences for students, build strong relationships, support student growth, and prepare every student for the future.”
Barberton school officials will meet with a state-appointed commission today to discuss next steps after the district's income tax levy failed. The district is the only one in Ohio to have the "fiscal emergency" designation.
What about state funding?
The levy failures are provoking deeper concerns about the state's approach to school funding, said Tom Hosler, CEO of the Ohio School Boards Association. That's a nonprofit that supports Ohio's school boards.
Hosler said the state has shifted its school-funding model over time, and now, the burden of funding schools is landing more squarely on local residents' shoulders. State funding for public schools rose about 20% between 2011 and 2024, but inflation rose about 39% during that time period, Hosler said. Even before that, the state had cut taxes on businesses, further affecting schools' funding.
He said the funding relationship between the state, local taxpayers and schools is "broken."
"What we have seen over time is this breakdown of this partnership. And as property taxes and the values of homes increase and property taxes go up with with that, you see the state not contributing as much to traditional public schools as they have in the past, (and) not keeping up with inflation. And that's creating this gap, this pressure, where districts have to turn to their local communities, which is the only way they can make up that difference," Hosler said.
In Amherst, Molnar said he recognized local voters feel squeezed by taxes. But he said the state is not providing any better solutions.
"A portion of our community fully recognizes that it's not our fault, that it is a system that's broken," he said. "But there's a portion of community that says, 'but it's not the taxpayers' job to fix the broken system.' And in fact, many of our taxpayers believe if we continue to pass local levies, the state will continue to not fund our schools properly. So in a strange way, they're voting no, because they're trying to fight the broken systems. But it's our students and families and school districts that are gonna be hurt by it, not the state, not the legislature."
Property taxes versus income taxes
In total, 54% of all school levies statewide were passed by voters Tuesday night, according to Ohio School Boards Association data. That includes renewals. Typically, those have a high passage rate because they do not increase taxes, Hosler said.
School districts' requests to increase taxes fared worse. Recognizing there's been major backlash to property tax increases in Ohio, more schools put income tax increases on the ballot. But just five of 39 income tax increases on the ballot in Ohio were approved by voters. Hosler said that might be due to cost-of-living concerns remaining high among voters.
At the same time, voters approved about half of school districts' requests to increase property taxes to fund operations, 10 of 18 attempts. Hosler said income taxes as a vehicle for funding might still feel new for many voters.
"I think it just takes time for people to get their heads wrapped around it a little bit," he said.
