The Cleveland Metropolitan School District may ask voters for a tax increase this fall as district leadership grapples with a projected budget hole.
Citizens for Our Children’s Future, the political action committee that backs Cleveland school levies, hired advisors earlier this year – the PAC’s first serious spending since 2020.
In a statement to Signal Cleveland, the district acknowledged that a levy campaign is possible, while saying the decision rests with the board.
“The district is still exploring its financial options, but a fall levy is under consideration,” the district said in an email to Signal Cleveland. “We are being supported by experts in the field to determine our best path forward and our board will make the final decision.”
The levy PAC paid $10,000 to Burges & Burges Strategists in March, a new unaudited financial report shows. A Cleveland-based political consulting firm, Burges and Burges has helped the Cleveland Metropolitan School District get prior levy efforts over the finish line.
“We have to get started sometime, and this is going to take a while,” Bill Burges, the firm’s founding partner, told Signal Cleveland.
The March payment was for “communications consulting services,” according to the filing with the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections. The levy PAC also paid $8,000 to Balodis Group, a local political fundraising consultant.
Like districts around the country, CMSD is dealing with the fallout from the end of federal pandemic aid. The district is trying to close the budget hole by cutting administrative spending and ending support for out-of-school programs run by third parties. Even with these measures, the district projects a nearly $90 million negative balance by 2027.
Citizens for Our Children’s Future did not report any fundraising so far this year. The PAC dipped into the more than $57,000 in cash left over from the 2020 campaign.
A successful levy campaign would likely need to raise more than $1 million from Cleveland’s business and philanthropic world. The successful 2012 levy effort, which increased property taxes to support Mayor Frank Jackson’s school transformation plan, cost nearly $1.7 million, finance reports show.
Voters renewed the levy in 2016. A levy renewal and increase won in 2020 with almost 62% of the vote. Citizens for Our Children’s Future spent $1.1 million on the levy campaign four years ago.
Although Cleveland voters have looked favorably on school levies in the last dozen years, the 2020 effort faced opposition. Four years ago, a dark money group – which did not have to disclose its donors – tried to defeat the tax.
If the district does decide to go to the ballot again, it would be Mayor Justin Bibb’s first time as the public face of a levy campaign. Asked in March about a possible levy, the mayor declined to get out in front of the board and CEO Warren Morgan.
“It’s going to be the board’s decision to put a levy on the ballot,” Bibb said. “But I know that Dr. Morgan and the board are looking at all options, and I want to respect their process.”
