ASHLAND — At the board of education’s first meeting of 2025, Supt. Steve Paramore announced the district can put its permanent improvement levy on the November ballot.
The levy, a renewal, helps fund work on the district’s facilities. It comes up for renewal every five years, and the last time the levy passed was November 2020.
Paramore said November 2025 would be the first chance for the district to put the levy back on the ballot for voters.
He added the district has been grateful for the community’s support of the levy in the past.
“What it really boils down to is we are so blessed with the facilities and the technology, the roofs over our head, the parking lots that we park in,” Paramore said.
“What we want to make sure our Arrow community understands is we are making a commitment to keep up the level of those facilities, and that’s what this PI levy goes towards.”
The board did not take action Monday regarding the levy’s placement on November’s ballot.
Still, the 2025 calendar year marks a full one for the Ashland City Schools district. In addition to the permanent improvement levy’s potential placement on the ballot later this year, the district will have a reconfiguration taking place to kick off the 2025-2026 academic year.
Paramore also said Monday questions about the reconfiguration would be answered at an upcoming State-of-the-Schools address. That address is scheduled for Jan. 22 at 7 p.m. in Archer Auditorium.
What has the permanent improvement levy done?
According to a dashboard from the Ohio School Boards Association that tracks results from levies, the last time the permanent improvement levy landed on voters’ ballots was 2020.
Unofficial results from the dashboard and election night results from the Ashland County Board of Elections show the levy renewal passed in 2020 with over 69% of voters in favor.
Related renewals
The OSBA dashboard also shows that generally, Ashland County voters have approved of school renewal levies since 2006. Renewals have only failed at the ballot box three times dating back to 2006.
Most recently, voters rejected an operating levy renewal for Hillsdale Local Schools in November.
Hillsdale’s board of education voted to place the levy back on the ballot for voters at its December meeting. The levy pays for staffing, student supplies and helps keep the district’s lights on, Supt. Catherine Trevathan has previously told Ashland Source. Without it, Hillsdale stands to lose $8.7 million in public utilities revenue.
Paramore said Ashland City Schools’ permanent improvement levy has helped fund several investments in the district’s facilities, including:
- Building the new middle school
- Upgrades to Community Stadium, like the turf field, press box and community room
- Building renovations and attempts to rid facilities of asbestos
Gina Deppert, one of the members of Ashland City Schools’ board of education, said this renewal is “crucial” to keep in place.
She added the levy would not generate new funds for the district.
Deppert also clarified this levy doesn’t commingle with the district’s operational budget, which she said directly funds students’ academic needs.
