OSBA RECOGNITION … Swanton Local School District Board of Education member and Ohio School Board Association Northwest Region Executive Committee member Kris Oberheim (right) receives a certificate of recognition from OSBA Northwest Regional Manager Marty Rothey (left) for her years of service on the committee. Oberheim is not running for reelection to the board or the committee this year.
JOSTENS RECOGNITION … Kim Floyd (left) and students Hailey Forsch (center) and Natalya Hall (right) pose with certificates presented to them during a Swanton Local School District Board of Education meeting after being previously recognized by Josten’s with a National Yearbook Program of Excellence award. Also recognized but not present were Bill O’Connell, Betty Jo Sadowski, Jeremiah Mims, Laci Walborn, Lauren Reynolds, Bridget Reynolds, and EvaRose Kozakiewicz.
PHOTO BY JESSE DAVIS / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
OMLA RECOGNITION … Swanton Fifth- and sixth-grade literacy teacher Angie Nowak poses with a certificate she was presented during a Swanton Local School District Board of Education meeting after being previously recognized for excellence by the Ohio Middle Level Association Northwest Region.
By: Jesse Davis
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jesse@thevillagereporter.com
Swanton Local School District Superintendent Chris Lake shared his frustration with the state legislature’s proposed changes to property taxes during his comments to the board of education at its monthly meeting.
According to Lake, different bills introduced throughout the legislature are targeting effectively every type of levy the district can put before voters.
Additionally, a bill that originally capped valuation increases to the rate of inflation has been amended to make it retroactive, stripping funding already promised to school districts, Lake said. He estimated the impact at roughly $540,000 from tax year 2025, $840,000 from tax year 2026, and $900,000 or more from tax year 2027.
Lake said the total impact for school districts in Fulton County is a loss of roughly $11 million.
None of that includes the efforts by some in the state to get property taxes banned outright, he said, a goal for which signatures are currently being collected. “It’s just a difficult time right now,” Lake said.
He said the Swanton district in particular has not asked voters for new funding in 22 years or more, only pursuing renewal of its existing fixed-sum emergency levy, which, under pending legislation, they can only renew one more time and collect through 2027.
That lack of new funding requests comes despite an ever-dwindling percentage of district funding coming from the state and a growing percentage coming from local taxpayers, he said.
“This has been one of my main arguments any time I’m in front of the legislature, is you guys created this system and now you’re weaponizing it against us,” Lake said.
“You forced us to go to our local voters for money, and now you sit there and point your finger at us because ‘you’re asking your local voters for too much money all the time.
“But that’s the situation that they created. They decry, ‘Oh, you say you have an emergency, and you need an emergency levy.’ They created the terminology ‘emergency levy.’ They dictate what we must put on a ballot in terms of language.”
With the many pieces of legislation all targeting different aspects of and options for school funding, Lake said it’s like “playing football against three teams at once.”
“Right now, if it generates revenue for a public school, they’re probably going to come after it in some way,” he said. Lake encouraged residents to reach out to their representatives to share their support for their public schools.
OTHER BUSINESS
The board approved the job description of the health aide at St. Richard Catholic School. The position is paid via federal funding and not by the district.
The board approved an eighth-grade trip to Washington, D.C., from May 5 to 8, 2026, as well as the chaperones and their permission to administer medication.
The board approved a gifted services plan to outline how the district approaches gifted students and related state regulations.
The board accepted donations totaling $558.86 from Kroger Rewards, $1,350 for boys soccer, $450 for girls basketball, $100 for volleyball team meals, $10 for yearbook, $500 for student athletic admissions, $117 for athletics tailgate collection, $500 for scholarships, $2,732.47 for prom, $30 for the high school yearbook, $523.42 for NHA, $250 to stock the middle school staff room, and $10,000 for baseball/softball complex dugouts.
The next regular meeting of the Swanton Local School District Board of Education is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 19, at 108 N. Main Street.