CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — School superintendents and treasurers from five Ross County districts issued an urgent public plea Monday for state lawmakers to boost education funding and reject radical property-tax elimination proposals, warning that further cuts to local revenue would devastate schools, fire departments, parks and senior services.
In a three-page open letter dated for Monday, leaders of Chillicothe City, Zane Trace, Union-Scioto, Pickaway-Ross Career and Technology Center, and Ross-Pike Educational Service District districts said Ohio has quietly shifted the burden of public education onto local property owners, dropping from 44.8% state funding in 2002 to just 33.5% in 2023 — pushing the state from 35th to 45th nationally while local taxes now cover 53.1% of school costs, among the highest shares in the country.
“We are not overspending; we’re simply being asked to fund education differently — through local property taxes instead of state resources,” the officials wrote. They added that continued state disinvestment and proposals to eliminate property taxes entirely “could mean billions in lost local revenue” and force school consolidation, longer bus rides and the erosion of community identity.
The Ross County letter lands as a statewide grassroots movement to constitutionally abolish all real-property taxes has gained traction. Citizens for Property Tax Reform, a volunteer-led group, unfunded group, has collected more than 100,000 signatures toward the roughly 413,000 needed by July 2026 to place the issue on the November ballot. If approved, the amendment would make Ohio the first state in the nation to ban taxes on land and buildings — a move supporters call overdue relief from skyrocketing bills but opponents warn would create a $24 billion hole in school and local-government budgets.
Gov. Mike DeWine and Republican legislative leaders have responded with a series of reforms, including $2.4 billion in tax relief over three years, new caps on unvoted levy increases triggered by reappraisals, and expanded homestead exemptions for seniors and low-income homeowners. Lawmakers overrode several of DeWine’s vetoes in November to enact the package, which House Speaker Matt Huffman described as the largest property-tax cut in state history.
Yet the Ross County educators argued the reforms do not go far enough and urged a broader solution: increased state funding to fulfill Ohio’s constitutional duty to provide a “thorough and efficient” system of public schools, paired with targeted relief such as stronger homestead exemptions, inflation-linked caps on levy growth, and greater transparency on economic-development tax abatements.
Forty-four other states have found a more balanced state-local funding split, the letter noted, adding, “Ohio can too.”
The clash sets the stage for a high-stakes 2026 budget debate and possible ballot showdown, with public schools, first responders and local services caught between voter anger over rising tax bills and warnings that outright elimination would trigger deep cuts or massive increases in sales or income taxes.