NANKIN — Voters failed to pass a Mapleton Local School District and elected Kathy Goon, Fred Hartzler and Vince Hartzler to the board of education, according to final, unofficial results from the Ashland County Board of Elections.

On Tuesday night, the levy went down by 14.22 percentage points.

It earned 42.89% approval from 2,362 voters. There were 1,349 votes against the levy (57.11 percent) compared to 1,013 voting in favor.

Superintendent Scott Smith was not immediately available for comment on the election results Tuesday night.

The levy

This try was Mapleton’s third to pass the levy, which would have been a 0.75% income tax levy. The levy would have generated $1 million annually to pay for Mapleton Local Schools expenses.

Tuesday night was the best outcome the levy has seen during its three tries. In May, the levy went down by 16%. Before that, the levy failed by 32 percent in May 2022.

Mapleton Local Schools hasn’t passed a new levy in 32 years. According to previous Ashland Source reporting, the levy’s failure means class sizes may increase and students may see reductions in options.

A new board

Mapleton Local Schools also had three positions open on its board of education this election cycle. That’s thanks to seats left open by the departure of long-time board members Tom Donley and Shawn Grundy, who will leave their positions at year’s end.

Vince Hartzler, who was sworn in to finish out former board vice president Tim McKean’s term in July, aimed to earn a full term.

Four candidates competed for the three positions. Final, unofficial election results show 4,159 total votes were cast in the race.

Goon, the executive director for Ashland University’s master’s in business administration program, clinched the highest number of votes. She earned 32.29% of the vote, winning a seat on the board with 1,343 total votes cast for her.

Goon will be joined by fellow board newcomer Fred Hartzler. He’s a self-employed dairy farmer. Hartzler won 1,038 votes, amounting to 24.96% of the total votes cast.

Vince Hartzler, the only candidate currently serving on the board, won his first full term on Tuesday night. He received 975 votes, or 23.44% of total votes cast. Vince Hartzler works as an estimator for Simonson Construction.

None of the candidates were available to comment on their wins.