If both the Cincinnati Public Schools levy and the Hamilton County Children’s Services levy fail, voters will deserve an explanation from leaders who asked the public to support Cincinnati’s children but could not agree among themselves on how to do it.
The two measures serve different purposes. But for voters in the CPS district, they arrive on the same ballot and draw from the same household budgets.
Two levies put pressure on the same household budgets
Together, the two levies would increase a typical Cincinnati homeowner’s property-tax bill by approximately 13%. Community leaders should have anticipated how voters would react to that combined demand. By failing to coordinate, they risk turning two separate decisions about children’s needs into one frustrated vote against higher taxes.
Only last
November, voters approved a CPS levy renewal. A renewal continues an existing tax rather than adding a new one. But voters may remember recently saying yes to school taxes more readily than they remember that distinction.
Each levy could help pull the other down. That outcome is not inevitable. But community leadership should have confronted that foreseeable risk together.
CPS, the Chamber and county leaders pull in different directions
Consider the players.
Hamilton County commissioners put forward the Children’s Services levy. The Cincinnati Regional Chamber endorsed it.
CPS pursued its own levy, initially choosing an income tax. The teachers union objected that it would burden workers while sparing commercial property owners. The school board then switched to a property tax.
The Chamber and Cincinnati Business Committee subsequently asked CPS to postpone its levy effort. In October, after voting had begun, they renewed their request to "pause."
In practical terms, that meant withdrawing the measure from this election.
The business leaders’ request carries an unmistakable concern: The CPS levy could jeopardize the Children’s Services levy they already support. They are asking CPS to step aside. Whatever the merits of that judgment, it reveals how far these institutions are from a common approach to children’s needs.
Business leaders raise legitimate questions about CPS’s spending priorities, unfinished facilities planning and the burden of additional property taxes. Those questions deserve clear answers. Supporting public education does not require accepting every funding request without scrutiny.
But their proposed solution deserves scrutiny, too.
Their letter offered collaboration on a future proposal, but no commitment to endorse a levy next year. CPS would surrender this year’s opportunity to secure funding without a promise of future support.
Cincinnati's children deserve a coordinated approach
Meanwhile, state Sen. Louis W. Blessing III describes how Ohio is shortchanging public education and urges Cincinnati voters to make up the difference through higher property taxes. He leaves largely unspoken that his own Republican colleagues control the state’s funding decisions.
State funding decisions have helped create the squeeze. Local leaders have failed to agree on how to respond.
The school district sees educational needs. Children’s Services officials see vulnerable children and families. Business leaders see affordability and economic competitiveness. The union sees the consequences for workers and classrooms.
A child struggling with housing instability or family crisis does not experience education and children’s services as separate ballot issues. Yet our institutions have approached the funding questions through their separate constituencies and campaigns.
The resulting distrust makes cooperation harder. Business scrutiny becomes an accusation of wealthy people calling the shots. School funding requests become arguments over planning and performance. State responsibility recedes while local taxpayers face the bill.
This column is not an endorsement or rejection of either levy. It is a question about leadership.
Agreement need not mean supporting both measures. A common approach could involve different amounts, timing, spending commitments, or demands on Columbus. It would require the participants to explain the trade-offs together − and accept responsibility for the consequences.
Instead, voters are being asked to reconcile demands their leaders have not reconciled.
If both levies fail, each institution may have an explanation for why its own position was reasonable.
Cincinnati’s children will still be living with the collective result.
Dennis Doyle lives in Anderson Township and is a member of the Enquirer Board of Contributors.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: CPS and Children's Services levies expose leadership divide | Opinion
