Voters in Boardman will be asked to approve a new tax for schools on the Tues., Nov. 6 general election ballot.
      The school board has placed a 3.9-mil levy on the ballot.
      The school board claims property tax collections are down (Boardman Township officials say tax collections are running near 100 per cent) and combined with a drop of $600,000 in state funding, the district faces a financial predicament.
      A recent presentation by the district’s treasurer predicted Boardman Local Schools will face a $2.3 million shortfall by 2015.
      “We wanted to place this levy on the ballot before the situation got too bad [and] take this action to maintain the quality of education in our school district because it is easier to maintain and keep it steady, rather than having to build it back up after an emergency occurs,” school board member John Landers was quoted as saying earlier this year.
      The levy is expected to raise about $3 million a year for the Boardman Local School District.
      “We’re at a point now, where if this new money doesn’t come it’s going to affect the quality of education that kids are receiving here. And really for the last 10 out of 12 years this district has been excellent, and we want to maintain that,” said Vince Bevacqua, a member of the Friends of Boardman Schools levy committee said.
      Friends of Boardman Schools Committee says school leaders picked the smallest levy amount [of millage] to give taxpayers a break.