Upper Arlington Voters Reject Issue 7's $273.5 Million School Plan

Upper Arlington voters rejected Issue 7 on November 3, defeating a combined $273.5 million school construction bond and 4.9-mill operating levy by 629 votes. Unofficial Franklin County results show the measure failing 51.45 percent to 48.55 percent, leaving the district's Burbank, Hastings, and Jones building plans unfunded.

What voters decided

The Franklin County Board of Elections' unofficial results show 11,187 votes against the measure and 10,558 in favor, with all 36 Upper Arlington precincts reporting. That is a 629-vote margin out of 21,745 ballots cast on the question, or 51.45 percent against to 48.55 percent for. The totals are unofficial; Franklin County typically certifies official results about three weeks after an election.

CREN covered Upper Arlington's Issue 7 before the vote, when the district's own figures put the combined cost at about $1,250 a year on a home the county auditor values at $500,000. Because the measure failed, homeowners will not see that increase, and the levy's forecast $14,396,791 a year in new operating revenue will not materialize this budget cycle.

This was not the only Upper Arlington-area measure on the ballot. The same Franklin County results show a separate renewal-and-increase tax levy for the City of Upper Arlington, a different taxing authority than the school district, passing easily, 59.90 percent to 40.10 percent -- evidence that voters distinguished between the city's levy and the district's much larger capital request rather than rejecting local tax measures broadly.

What the $273.5 million would have built

The Franklin County Board of Elections notice of election authorized the district to issue $273,500,000 in bonds, repaid over as long as 38 years, paired with the continuing operating levy. The money was meant to build a new Burbank Early Childhood School and a new Hastings Middle School, rebuild most of Jones Middle School while keeping its 1923 section, and add space at Upper Arlington High School.

Reaction at the ballot box

Supporters gathered Tuesday night at Carsonie's on Lane Avenue to watch returns, according to WSYX/ABC 6. Parent Sally Wolfe told the station she understood why some voters balked at a tax increase but thought the investment would have been worthwhile: "Now it's going to be a big concern."

Superintendent Robert Hunt, who has pointed to roughly $125 million in needed building repairs district-wide, told WSYX the district would look at "a short term" repair plan alongside its longer-range facility needs.

What the district does now

With no new bond or levy revenue, Hunt said the district will have to "make some tough decisions on what we can address with current operations" instead of dedicated construction funding. The district's own ballot-measure page had already laid out that contingency before the vote: if voters said no, officials said they would re-evaluate programming, class sizes, and staffing, and pay for urgent repairs out of the operating budget rather than a capital fund. District leaders returned to work Wednesday to begin that process, Hunt told WSYX, without naming which repairs come first.

What's unresolved

How the roughly $125 million in repairs Hunt has cited gets funded without a bond is not yet decided, and the district has not said when, or in what form, it might return to voters. Franklin County's official canvass, expected in about three weeks, will confirm or adjust the unofficial 629-vote margin. The next checkpoint is whatever interim plan the district's board and administration present for Jones, Hastings, and Burbank without the construction bond behind them.