Political campaigns heat up after Labor Day, and the one for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s tax levy is no exception. District CEO Warren Morgan is set to speak at the City Club of Cleveland twice over the next two months.

In the first of those discussions, Sept. 13, Morgan and Sara Elaqad, the chair of CMSD’s board of education, will directly address the proposed tax increase, the second in four years. Morgan will return to the City Club on Oct. 1 for his annual state of the schools address. It won’t explicitly be about the levy, but selling the district’s achievements and vision for the future could go a long way in winning support. 

The levy campaign has kept a pretty low profile so far. It won support in the local faith community in early August. Around that time, the levy campaign’s finance report showed the campaign had raised $125,000. The Cleveland Teachers Union has also campaigned for the levy at a few community events. 

The district is asking voters to approve the new tax, but it could be a tough sell for residents already worried about rising taxes after the county reappraised home values.

Tami Dickerson, an intervention specialist in CMSD, raised concern about the levy during public comment at the district’s board of education meeting last week at the Arnold Pinkney East Professional Center. 

“Everybody wants us to stump for a levy,” she said. “I grew up not too far from here, my parents still own the home. All of the neighbors, they can’t afford a levy. We want to act like a levy is going to save us.”

During a Cleveland City Council Caucus meeting in July, Ward 3 Council Member Kerry McCormack questioned the timing of the levy, noting that residents are getting “hammered by costs right now.” Some are moving away because they can’t afford their taxes, he said.