Garfield Heights City Schools Superintendent Dr. Richard Reynolds and Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer Phil Boco used a public livestream to urge voters to approve Issue 48, a renewal operating levy they said would not raise taxes and is needed to maintain current services.

"There are no new taxes on this levy," Dr. Richard Reynolds said, describing the measure as necessary "just for us to keep the lights on." Phil Boco added that the levy is a renewal, not a new-money ballot, and said the district has tried to stretch one-time federal and grant funds to cover capital needs.

District leaders described a string of recent investments funded largely with one-time dollars and federal grants after a 2023 bond failed. Boco listed projects including new windows at the middle school, replacement of an original HVAC chiller at Maple Leaf, updated security doors at the high school and technology upgrades at secondary buildings. He also said the district spent about $3,035,000 on security measures and screening equipment and cited a partnership with the Cleveland Browns that used ESSER funds to install a new football field and track for school and community use.

Officials highlighted academic and student-support gains, saying the district recently earned a three-star rating, the highest designation for the district since 2011. Reynolds credited teachers, staff and community partners for progress while warning that the gains are at risk without the levy renewal.

Boco described the districts fiscal context: Garfield Heights is "one of the poorest school districts in the state of Ohio," he said, with roughly 75% of revenue coming from state and federal sources and local taxes accounting for about 25%. He said renewal levies account for roughly 12% of the districts operating budget and that the state currently pays about 12.5% of the levy amount, meaning residents pay about 87.5% of the millage. "If this issue fails, any new-money levy we put on moving forward would be fully taxed at 100%," Boco said, and he gave an example that the ballot amount equates to about $337 per $100,000 of valuation under current assumptions.

District leaders said they have already made a series of cuts to control spending: six administrative positions were eliminated and about 35 teaching positions were left unfilled. Reynolds and Boco warned that failing to renew Issue 48 would require deeper reductions beginning with the 2026–27 school year, potentially including closure of Elmwood and another elementary campus referenced in the meeting, elimination of roughly 20 additional teacher positions and about 10 support staff roles, and reductions in athletics, arts and other extracurricular programming.

Officials also walked through technical questions about ballot language and Ohios "10-mill limitation," explaining that the 9.63 mills on the ballot are outside the countys inside 10-mill allocation and do not represent an additional, separate tax beyond the renewal request. They reminded voters that the district consolidated prior levies into a single issue years earlier and encouraged community members to ask questions at coffee talks, parent events or by contacting central office.

Reynolds closed by repeating that the levy contains no new taxes and asking the community to consider the trade-offs. "We are looking forward to continue to move our kids forward," he said. "But if we're unable to receive the funding that we have been getting for years, it will be extremely difficult to maintain that momentum."