The 50 or so volunteers who ventured out in the Saturday morning rain to drum up support for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District levy were ready with talking points about rising property values and potential teacher cuts.
But canvassers, most of them teachers, who knocked on doors on Cleveland’s West Side didn’t encounter resistance. Instead, they found residents who hadn’t heard much about the levy.
Esther Ruiz was bringing in groceries when a group of campaign volunteers approached her. She didn’t know the district was asking for more tax money again, she said. She pointed out the Lincoln West High School t-shirt she was wearing and said she was a lifelong CMSD supporter. Her child and grandchildren all graduated from the district, she said.
Another group hit East Side neighborhoods the same morning, and campaign volunteers plan to weave their way through the city every weekend until Election Day on Nov. 5.
The levy, appearing on ballots as Issue 49, includes both a bond issue and an operating levy. The operating levy would last 10 years and raise about $52 million each year that the district can use to pay teachers and cover other costs to run schools. It would cost homeowners about $300 per $100,000 of property value each year.
Residents already pay for the bond issue, but voting yes on Issue 49 would extend the issue for another 35 years. It costs $93 each year for a $100,000 property, and CMSD uses this money to pay for building repairs and construction.
In Ward 16, where Signal Cleveland tagged along with three teachers as they knocked on doors, the last school levy didn’t fare well. In 2020, voters in half of the precincts in Ward 16, which includes part of West Park, rejected the levy, which nonetheless passed citywide with more than 60% of the vote. That issue was a renewal of an existing levy, with an additional ask expected to generate about $20 million a year.
Most of the 15 or so voters who answered their doors for levy supporters didn’t outright object to the tax increase. Some wanted more details, while others voiced strong support for the district and teachers.
What do residents have to say about the school levy?
Kate Hindall, who’s been teaching in North Royalton City Schools for 29 years, said she cares most about the future of CMSD students and teachers. Canvassers had almost marked her down as “no answer,” but she caught them as they walked off her porch. She just heard about the CMSD levy last week, she said, and she didn’t know much about it.
Hindall has 27 students in her third grade class, she said, “and that’s too many.” When volunteers told her that the levy’s failure could lead to teacher cuts and larger class sizes, she said she’d support it. CMSD CEO Warren Morgan has said that, if the levy fails, the district may have to cut up to 700 teachers and school staff to make up for a looming $110 million budget deficit in 2027.
“I’m glad you stopped because I had no idea,” Hindall said. “Knowing those numbers totally makes me go, ‘Oh, yeah.’”
Down the street, James Novak said he hadn’t heard much about the levy either, but “anything that supports the teachers and everything, I’m automatically on board for.” All the CMSD parents he knows plan to vote for the levy, too.
Novak graduated from John F. Kennedy High School, and his son currently attends Robinson G. Jones Elementary School. Novak’s son has ADHD, and his teachers go out of their way to make sure he gets the one-on-one attention he needs, Novak said.
To him, supporting schools will increase property values, and although that means higher taxes, it’s a net positive for the city.
“The better the school system, the better your property values and everything’s going to be,” he said. “With the Cleveland schools turning around and actually getting some good scores and stuff, now it’s going to help bring all that around.”
Why does CMSD say it needs more levy money?
Michelle Rzucidlo, one of the Saturday morning canvassers, teaches preschool special education at CMSD’s Mary B. Martin School. She has taught in the district for 35 years. Schools across the district need more teachers and paraprofessionals to shrink class sizes, she said, especially in special education classrooms.
Lisa Arraj, another canvasser, teaches preschool special education at Charles A. Mooney School. As it is now, teachers are stretched thin, she said.
“We have a lot of students who have mental health and behavioral needs, and we don’t have nearly enough resources in our schools that help,” Arraj said. “Teachers are not necessarily well-equipped to deal with all of the mental health issues and the behavioral needs of our students and teach effectively at the same time.”
Building repairs would also go a long way for both students and teachers, Rzucidlo said.
“When something breaks, it’s nice to be able to fix it right away instead of having to wait three months before, you know, the plumbing gets fixed or the water fountain gets fixed,” she said. “Just having things working because Cleveland kids deserve that just as much as their suburban counterparts.”
