Lakewood board hears legislative update: property tax bills and kindergarten eligibility changes
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Summary
A board legislative liaison summarized five recent state bills that could limit property tax growth and described a change requiring children to be 5 by their district’s first day of school for kindergarten eligibility; discussion covered county-level choices that affect levy revenue and potential long-term impacts on district funding.
A board-designated legislative liaison briefed Lakewood City Schools’ board on recently enacted state measures and their possible effects on local school funding and enrollment rules. The liaison said five bills signed Dec. 19 could alter property tax procedures that affect school revenue growth, naming House Bill 124, House Bill 129, House Bill 186, House Bill 309 and House Bill 335 as examples of legislation to monitor.
The liaison warned that some provisions could reduce revenue growth during the next triennial tax update and that county-level decisions — including whether to apply a ‘‘piggyback’’ provision for homestead and rollback taxes — may produce unequal revenue outcomes across counties. "Some school districts are losing close to $2,000,000 annually that they would have collected," the liaison said, citing Lorain County’s decision to limit collections as an example and noting Cuyahoga County chose not to do the same.
Board members questioned whether the bills have immediate impact on Lakewood’s proposed levy; administrative staff responded that most changes would not have an immediate effect but could influence revenue in future reappraisals. The liaison said the district is not currently at a 20-mil floor that would force immediate reductions, but that could change depending on valuation movements.
Separately, the board discussed a change in kindergarten eligibility tied to the first day of the local school year: under the new law a child must be 5 by the district’s first day of school to attend kindergarten. Administrators said that because districts start on different dates, a child eligible in one district might not be eligible in another, and the district plans to keep the preschool cutoff at Sept. 30 while aligning kindergarten eligibility with the new law.
Board members and administrators said they will provide more regular legislative updates at future meetings and increase communications with families about how state changes affect local enrollment and levy planning.