Voters have previously turned down three consecutive levy attempts in the district.
Graham Local Superintendent Kirk Koennecke said since the last failed attempt in November, the district’s board has been busy collecting input from the community and the board’s leadership team.
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A survey was put out to the community looking for feedback so the district could chart a course for a new levy issue this May. Koennecke said 350 responses were received.
“This is larger than a school issue,” he said. “This is a community issue about how our local schools are funded and what level of quality we want to maintain.”
The district has already been dealing with the consequences of past failed attempts. Koennecke said when voters said ‘no’ in May 2018, $1.5 million had to be cut from the budget, 15 jobs were lost and five bus routes were eliminated.
“Probably most important, we had to change our transportation model for the first time in decades, and that really has caused a lot of problems for families,” Koennecke said. “We really want to be able to restore some of those services and lower those fees and if we can be successful with a May ballot issue, we can still do that this school year.”
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Koennecke also said that as a result of that failure, fees increased for preschool and pay-to-pay sports saw an increase of nearly 40 percent.
Graham Local hasn’t passed an operating levy for new funds in 26 years — but Koennecke said he and the board haven’t given up hope.
“We just wanna continue to reach everybody one by one, talk to them about our needs, be transparent about our budget and let them make the most informed decision that they can,” he said.
In the November 2018 election, a levy attempt failed by a margin of 54 to 45 percent.
According to a website called, “It’s OK to Vote No,” there were some families during the last election who were against the levy because they felt taxpayers’ money wasn’t being used wisely.
The website did not identify any of the families or person or people running the site.
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Koennecke said he and the board have worked to be open and transparent about the district’s budget, without judging past actions of former administration or board members. He also encouraged anyone with questions about the issue to get in touch with the district.
“We can’t continue to cut and cut and stretch a budget that’s already lean,” he said.
Koennecke said the next step will come at a future board meeting before the end of January, where the board will declare what type of income tax it will seek on the May ballot.
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