The Facts about the Lex Levy
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The Emergency Levy represents a 7.6 mill five year emergency operating levy. The cost will be $19 a month for every $100,000 of property value. Investing in the students of our community is an investment in the future of our community.
- The District’s State Report Card, which assesses the academic performance of all 610 districts in the State, has awarded either an Excellent or Excellent with Distinction status to the Lexington Local School district for the past 8 years in a row. Only 13% of the districts in Ohio have achieved these ratings over the past 8 years.
- No other school in Richland County, or any neighboring county for that matter, has achieved this same level of excellence.
- The students, staff and administration have achieved this academic level of acclaim on a budget that has not included any new voted funds from our community since the passage of a levy in November of 1999.
- This levy was put before voters only after careful deliberation by the Board of Education. There are no new programs or expenditures associated with this levy. This levy is to maintain the current quality of programs offered our students.
- State and local revenue collections have been flat or declining in recent years.
- The district has eliminated 33 full-time positions and 4 part-time positions since 2004. Any more reductions and Lexington’s Excellent schools are at-risk. Failure of this levy will mean an immediate reduction of 15-17 teachers, 10-12 support staff, class sizes will swell to 30+, pay to participate in extra-curricular activities, the possibility of one route bussing for K-8 only, outside a two mile radius of the school of attendance, and implementing open enrollment for the 2012-2013 school year.
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There has been $2,300,000 in budget cuts since 2004. Last spring the district reduced $1.5 million in expenses by cutting teachers, support staff, administrators, club/activity advisors and athletic coaches.
Linda Volz, Treasurer, Lexington Schools Levy Committe
