Medina Schools vote to put bond and levy on ballot

MEDINA, Ohio — For the first time in 10 years, the Medina City School District is returning to the ballot this fall to ask voters for additional money to support its redistricting plans and facilities projects.

Residents will be asked to approve a $98.9 million bond issue and a 6.5-mill operating levy Nov. 7.

Superintendent Aaron Sable spoke about redistricting and the need for the bond issue and operating levy at this week’s school board meeting.

“Mr. (David) Chambers (treasurer) and I will be recommending that the board pass a first resolution to place a bond and levy issue on the November ballot,” Sable said.

“The bond and levy issues, as we will be presenting this evening, will be tied together under one issue. So, although they are two different items, the voters would vote on them as one issue and they would pass or fail as one issue,” he said.

The bond issue would allow the district to proceed with the “yellow” redistricting plan it has been discussing. This would include transitioning A.I. Root Middle School into a fifth- and sixth-grade building and Claggett Middle School into a seventh- and eighth-grade building.

These changes would require an expansion of both buildings.

The district is also looking to repurpose some facilities within the district, and the bond issue would help with that as well. If passed, these facility changes would go into effect in the 2024-2025 school year.

These would include transitioning Garfield Elementary School into the Board of Education office. Some other facility projects would include a new stadium that would serve as a multi-use facility at Claggett and replacing the natural surface at the A.I. Root stadium with artificial turf.

“I do think it’s important to emphasize and clarify for our community that the redistricting is a completely separate issue from the facilities project,” Sable said.

“It is our hope that there will be a second phase of redistricting, and that second phase of redistricting is moving fifth grade out of the elementary (buildings) into that five-six building model,” he added later.

Phase two would require the passage of the bond issue and follow the completion of the facilities projects.

The bond issue would be paired on the ballot with a 6.5-mill operating levy. This levy would help the board continue some of the initiatives they’ve been working on within the schools, Sable said.

Sable shared that it has been 10 years since the district asked for new money.

“We made a commitment to the community that we would be fiscally responsible while still increasing opportunities and academics for our students,” he said.

“We have been able to do that without increasing costs to our community, and I think we’ve been successful in doing that.”

He explained that the board has been committed to not asking for new money until the district needs it. They have now reached a point, however, where additional funding is needed to keep all the programming in place for students.

The board approved the resolution to put the bond issue and levy on the November ballot.

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