There’s little dispute that Cleveland schools need fixing. But a nearly $300 increase for most city home owners will be a tough sell, given the rocky economy and a 9.3 unemployment rate in the metro area. At a press conference this morning, Mayor Jackson was asked just how he’ll win voter support for the mill levy.
“With the truth. And with the hope of having their children better educated, and to have that done now rather than later.”
So the campaign begins…and they cost money. Some suggest it’ll take at least a million dollars to get the word out and hire a consulting firm to lead the messaging effort. The mayor’s office says they expect help from businesses, foundations, and the public...but don’t have a specific fund-raising goal.
An assistant with the Cleveland Foundation says its board has not yet decided on the foundation’s level of involvement in the tax campaign, but the Foundation has been very supportive of the school improvement efforts to date.
David Abbott, executive director of The Gund Foundation, told Ideastream that while Gund helped shape the school reform initiative, it cannot take an official stand on it -- or the levy -- as political activity violates IRS rules. On an individual basis, Abbott says he plans to vote for it…though he concedes it’s a “big ask” on part of Cleveland residents.
“We could’ve gone for less millage, and would probably have increased likelihood of it passing," says Mayor Jackson. "But we would not be able to stand before you today or the public to say we could guarantee anything different.”
The levy would add $77 million more a year to the Cleveland schools’ operating budget, which is already at $670 million. So what happens if it fails? Teacher layoffs and further school program cuts could be substantial.
Schools chief Eric Gordon framed the consequences this way:
“We’ve cut $114 million over the last two years, we will balance the budget. That’s our requirement by law. And if the levy fails, we’ll continue to balance the budget. But this levy can’t be focused on that issue, because this is not an issue of just doing the same thing again and holding harmless, and just restoring. This is about those investments. And so if we have to face balancing the budget we will do so, we’ve done that for years.”
Investments that includes charter schools; they would get a small portion of the additional revenue and that’s precedent setting. John Zitzner is president of Friends of Breakthrough, the fundraising branch of Breakthrough Schools. He says the tax is the right size to boost the quality and accountability of the district, and he’s convinced the levy will pass in November.
“Really the key is educating the voters about what this investment means to our city and to the future of our city," says Zitzner. "And to having kids in our city that are educated, going to college, coming back to Cleveland and creating jobs. When you think about it, for less than the price of a Diet Coke a day, we can transform education.”
We asked a few people in downtown Cleveland if they would support the levy. Holly Mayer and Zachary Burkons were skeptical about Mayor Jackson’s proposal.
“He would have to prove that there’s going to be something put in place in which it’ll actually do something for the school districts," says Mayer. "Because it’s all good to say money’s going to be given, but not necessarily that something’s going to be done the right way.”
“If there’s an actual proof, I’m willing to consider it strongly," says Burkons. "If this is just more useless bureaucracy, we have enough of that to go around, thank you very much.”
But Darnell Walcott says he’s willing to pay, to fix up Cleveland’s district.
“If it would help the school children, sure. Because I think the children are our future, they need all the help they can get.”
Reaction online today at Cleveland.com was mostly negative. As one writer put it to the mayor: “Good luck with that.”
Unscientific surveying, but sentiment indicative of just how tough this campaign might be.