It has been 14 years (May of 2011) since the school district asked for an increase in new operating dollars from the community.

An emergency levy is a fixed-sum levy. It produces a set dollar amount collected annually.

• For day-to-day operating expenses

• Expressed in dollars

• Must generate a fixed dollar amount each year it is in effect

• Cannot exceed a period of 10 years

The school district can communicate its levy request to voters as a term-limited (10-year maximum), fixed-sum amount. In this case, $9.9 million annually to maintain current programs and offerings for the foreseeable future. Additionally, with an emergency levy, as new construction occurs, each taxpayer’s share of the emergency levy amount decreases.

This levy will generate $9.9 million annually for 10 years.

All money generated from this levy will be used to maintain the daily operations of the district, including the teachers, counselors, nurses, law enforcement Highland officers, and support staff that deliver the programs and instruction to highland students. The operating budget also includes transportation (bus drivers), utilities, classroom materials, and safety and security measures.

The district's current five year forecast projects an annual budget deficit beginning in 2025. Due to the manner in which schools are funded, revenues have not kept pace with the cost to operate. Inflationary measures have impacted all costs. The district has two options: make significant budget reductions beginning in the next school year that will adversely impact the services and programs that the community has come to expect, or increase revenue.

For the current school year, Highland receives approximately $1,662 per student from the state for basic educational costs, special education, gifted, transportation, and preschool.

For the 2023-2024 school year, Highlands average expenditure per student was $12,627, which is the lowest in Medina County and ranks 40th lowest out of more than 600 school districts across the state. For reference, the state average expenditure per pupil was $16,311.

For fiscal year 2024, the district's operating fund expenditures were allocated to classroom instruction and support services (71.3%), operation and maintenance (8.7%), administration (6.9%), transportation (6.1%), extracurricular activities (3.2%), fiscal services (2.4%), and other services (1.4%).

Yes. Highland has added five full-time law enforcement slash resource officers at each school, in addition to one full-time district DARE officer. Deputies from the Medina County Sheriff's Office and Hinckley Police Department are on duty at each school every day. The district has also added full-time mental health liaisons, behavior specialists, and increased counseling services to serve students. School also has one full-time nurse to serve the medical needs of students.

In addition to maintaining low operating costs per pupil, in March 2020, the district executed a refunding transaction for the 2018 school improvement bonds issued for the construction of three new elementary buildings and middle school renovations. This refinancing reduced future debt service requirements to taxpayers by nearly $21 million, contributing to a reduction in the original bond levy millage amount from 3.9 mills to 1.8 mills. Highland also participates in a number of purchasing consortia to keep costs low (health insurance, utilities, and various supplies).

For Fiscal Year 2024, the District collected general operating revenue from local taxes (70.7%), State foundation (13.3%), property tax allocation (9%), other local sources (5.8%), other State sources (0.9%), and other Federal sources (0.3%).

Yes. Unlike State and Federal taxes, all funds from this local school levy stay in the Highland School District.

As of February 2025, the District serves 3,392 students.

Highland employs 372 staff members.

Out of 607 public school districts in the state of Ohio, the Highland Local School District is ranked 23rd on the School District Performance Score Index. Year over year, the district earns a 5-star rating from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, the highest rating a district can receive. The Ohio Department of Education analyzes performance in six areas: achievement, progress, early literacy, gap closing, graduation, and college, career, workforce, and military readiness (this component is not rated until 2025). School districts and schools receive a 1-5 “Star” rating in half-star increments, based on performance. Highland also has a 5-star rated Little Hornet's preschool program.

The levy language will appear on the ballot as:

Shall a levy be imposed by the Highland Local School District for the purpose of the emergency requirements of the school district in the sum of $9,900,00 million and a levy of taxes to be made outside of the ten-mill limitation estimated by the county auditor to average 7.4 mills for each $1 of taxable value, which amounts to $259.00 for each $100,000 of the county auditors appraised value, for a period of ten years, commencing in 2025, first due in calendar year 2026?

The unit of value for expressing the rate of property taxes in the state of Ohio. A mill is one-tenth of a percent or one-tenth of one cent in cash terms. Millage is the factor applied to the taxable value of property to produce tax revenues.

No. The millage rate only applies to 35% of your home value as appraised by the County Auditor, not 100% of the value. For example, 35% x $100,000 = $35,000 of taxable property value.

2026

The debt service requirements related to the construction of Highland High School will be fulfilled in 2026, and the related bond levy that currently collects at 2.1 mills will drop off the county property tax rolls in calendar year 2027. This will result in a reduced tax liability for Highland residents when that occurs.