The campaign to pass the Cleveland schools’ proposed tax levy increase has raised $125,000 in donations over the past two months, according a recent report filed by the campaign’s political action committee, Citizens for Our Children’s Future.

Most of the money came from the Cleveland Teachers Union (CTU), which contributed $100,000 in June. That’s roughly the same amount CTU contributed to past Cleveland schools levy campaigns, CTU President Shari Obrenski said. The union also plans to donate time and labor for community canvassing.

The levy campaign also received $10,000 each from College Now and Say Yes Cleveland, scholarship programs that work closely with the Cleveland school district. The money came from the groups’ non-program money.

Four years ago, when the school district was trying to pass its last levy, the campaign hadn’t raised money this early in the summer. But it went on to raise $1.2 million that year, which helped the campaign win voters’ approval and beat back organized opposition led by a group of anonymous donors.

“If we would see an opposition campaign like that [this year], it would certainly take more resources in order to make sure that the voters receive the information they need to make the right decision in November,” Obrenski said of the campaign’s current $111,000 on hand.

“In our community, in order to put together a really strong campaign, we will still need more resources than that,” she said. “It’ll need to be significantly higher.” 

K-12 Education and Youth Reporter (he/him)
As a local visual journalist, I see my purpose in building relationships as much as reporting news. I’ve made my most impactful work only after pouring myself into my community.