No Pickerington School Levy This Fall

July 28, 2025

To place an operating levy issue on the November ballot, the Pickerington School Board needed to have at least four of its five members vote to do so – only three did.

At their July 28 meeting, board members Cathy Olshefski, Mark Hensen and Clay Lopez voted to place a 9.21-mill operating levy on the ballot and when that failed, they voted to place an 8-mill levy on the ballot. Board members Vanessa Niekamp and J.D. Postage voted against both measures.

Per district administration an 8-mill levy would have enabled the schools to maintain the current status quo as the district’s enrollment continues to increase by 1,000 students every five years. It would have cost homeowners $280 per $100,000 of property value, so that the owner of a $400,000 house would have paid $1,120 per year ($93.33 per month).

However, the status quo has district employees working longer hours with larger class sizes than their peers in other districts.

The 9.21-mill option would have allowed the district to lower class sizes slightly and employ more special education and English as a second language teachers – both of which have student populations growing at faster rates than that of traditional students. It would have cost homeowners $322 per $100,000 of property value, so that the owner of a $400,000 house would have paid $1,288 per year ($107.33 per month).