Cleveland Heights Approves New Levy for Cleveland Heights-University Heights Schools

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH - A new school levy for Cleveland Heights-University Heights schools has been approved by the city's voters. The 5.5 mill levy will support Cleveland Heights-University Heights schools and fund them for the next five years. However, opponents of the levy say that it's a short-term solution that will lead to bigger problems down the road. This levy will fund the district through 2019, at least.

"It's right for our kids and for our community," said Talisa Dixon, the district's superintendent in a previous interview with Patch. "Schools are funded by property tax assessments."

The district was worried about the passing of this levy because of perceptions of opaqueness on the part of the district.

"In 2014-2015 we worked on a 5-Year Plan and part of that was to be more transparent," she says. "We are not, in any way, trying to deceive our community."

She said that one example of the district attempting to respond to the community's calls for being more forthcoming in its communication is the release of its per student spending. She said that residents had been calling for that information to be made available and the district is including it in a Quality Profile that is being mailed out.

"We want to be more informative," Dixon said. "We heard the community saying that our behavior needed to change."

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