'Cycles of crisis,' Elyria teachers, officials call for change in Columbus as district faces $9 million in cuts

ELYRIA — In a packed meeting of the Elyria Board of Education on Wednesday, district and union officials came to terms with what two failed levies in one year would mean: $9 million in cuts by next school year. Members of the board, other district officials and Elyria Education Association President Linda Aguinaga all argued that the financial situation the district now faces is part of a larger problem, and it would take changes in Columbus to fix Ohio's school funding conundrum. Superintendent Ann Schloss said that districts across the state are increasingly reliant on local funding as the state Legislature continues to fund schools at levels that have not been adjusted for rising costs since 2022. A 10-year, 4.9-mill levy sought by the district failed in May and again, by a much larger margin, on Nov. 4. The initial levy marked the first new operating money Elyria Schools had asked for in 15 years. With that defeat, the district must now make $9 million in cuts for the 2026-27 school year to maintain fiscal solvency and avoid the possibility of state control, Treasurer Colleen Aholt said during a financial update presentation on Wednesday. According to updated financial projections shared at the meeting, the district is now on pace to expend its entire cash balance by 2028, earlier than prior estimates suggested. This places Elyria under "fiscal oversight" status by the state. Aholt told Council that to reduce the cuts to between $3 million and $5 million, the district would have to place a new levy on the ballot asking voters for 11.9 mills, well over double the prior ask. Even if the district does make the needed $9 million in cuts for next year, Aholt said that with the trends of rising costs and insufficient state funding, the district would still need to seek new money in the near future. Even with the proposed cuts factored in, the district would still face spending its entire cash balance by 2030. The members of the Board of Education made it clear that they felt the voters had spoken, and they did not believe a new levy would pass, let alone one asking for even more money. "I think that we are in a horrible situation," board President Elaine Seguin said. "Through no fault of our own, but due to the funding of the state and the county we are in the position that we are facing a deficit. … But I also feel that the community has spoken on the past two levies that went out to them. If we cannot pass a 4.9-(mill) levy, we are not going to be able to pass an 11.9 (levy). So my personal opinion is I don't feel comfortable putting forward a resolution to put a levy on in May before we make said cuts, whatever we determine those are. I think the community wants to see that." Schloss said that the board members and other officials would need to make hard decisions in the coming months, but she promised that the cuts would not be made without careful consideration. "These decisions will be deeply difficult, but necessary to ensure that Elyria Schools remains solvent and able to provide essential educational services to students," Schloss said. "We approach this work with compassion and integrity, guided by our longstanding commitment to protecting the learning environment for students, maintaining equitable access to programs and services and being transparent and accountable stewards of public funds." Regardless of how carefully cuts are made though, Schloss said, staff members would be affected and student learning and experience would suffer. Aguinaga spoke to the board prior to the presentation, noting that about 80 percent of the board's expenses were related to staffing. She said the union understood that cuts were needed, but would oppose any staffing cuts to reach that $9 million goal. "We do not want to see any staff cuts, not one," Aguinaga said. "Our educators are already stretched thin. They consistently do more with less: larger class sizes, increasing student needs, escalating behavioral and mental health demands and growing state mandates. Cutting staff will not only harm programs and services, it will directly harm the children of Elyria. We have lived through this before. The devastation of 2008 cuts still lives in the memory of this district, and we cannot afford to repeat that history." Aguinaga said that she did not believe the cuts were needed due to any fault of the board, Schloss or Aholt, but rather because Ohio's method of funding schools had become fundamentally unsustainable and unfair both to districts and taxpayers. "Elyria's situation is not the result of irresponsible spending or mismanagement," she said. "It is the result of a funding system that places districts like ours in repeated cycles of crisis. Cycles that force communities back to the ballot, force districts to contemplate devastating reductions and force employees to brace for the possibility of losing their livelihood. These cycles are unsustainable, demoralizing and harmful to students." Anguiaga called on Schloss and the district to stand firm in calling for solutions to the funding crisis from Columbus, and to maintain communication and transparency through whatever cuts may come. Schloss said that she and other district officials have long been hard at work trying to make legislators aware of the dire situation, and she asked educators, parents and any citizens who want to see property tax reform to join her. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.