DaytonDailyNews.com

Springboro voters have something of a love-hate relationship with their schools.

They love the schools' quality and the sense of community they create. But voters hate paying steep taxes to support them.

To that end, historically, residents have said "no" before they've said "yes" to levies.

In 2005, a levy was defeated twice that year before it passed with 54 percent of the vote in November.

A levy was defeated in 2001 and again in 2002, but then was approved in 2003. In 2002, a bond issue for new schools was defeated, but passed two years later.

School advocates are worried that if this trend holds and even just one of the levies voters will consider in March is defeated, teachers will be laid off. The next time the community could consider a request for money again would be August. But teachers have to be told before then if their contracts aren't being renewed.

It's in this context that levy backers are saying that there's just "one chance."

Here's the deal on the specific questions:

• One levy is for 5.99 mills. It would be permanent and would cost owners of a $200,000 home about $263 more per year. The request would bring in $5.5 million annually.

• The second request would renew two levies that are already on the books and that are set to expire at the end of the year. They have been combined into one request for 10.05 mills.

Together, these latter levies raise $9.2 million or about 20 percent of the district's $42 million budget. Their cost — which property owners are already paying, this levy would not result in a tax increase — is about $616 annually for owners of a $200,000 home.

Springboro has lovely schools, which is what one would expect in such an affluent, suburban community. Some people grouse that they are too nice, but when the bond issue was passed for the new buildings, the district was just trying to keep up with its stunning growth. This year alone, 280 kids were added. The superintendent says that out of the 8,300 Springboro residents who are women, 3,100 are in their "peak childbearing years."

Given the children who are already in the schools and those who are coming up, it made sense to build facilities the district can be proud of, that are 21st-century quality and that will last for years.

The Springboro district has the state's highest rating of "excellent," as it should. The parental support there, the demographics of the children and their families, and the district's attractiveness to teachers because of these characteristics give it important advantages.

But paying for the schools, without much help from industry, puts a special burden on taxpayers. (The school district is the largest single employer in Springboro and Clearcreek Twp. with 570 employees.) That's why the district is considering if it eventually should ask for an income tax to ease some of the property tax burden on seniors and those on fixed incomes.

The school board isn't ready to make that jump, but it's investigating the upsides and downsides. Springboro is small enough that when a major decision needs to be made, there's plenty of community interest in talking through the options. When citizens were divided about what type of schools to build, for example, school officials organized community conversations and were widely applauded for the outreach.

A bedroom community, Springboro is defined by its schools. It doesn't get much in the way of financial help from the state because most residents are wealthy enough to support the schools in ways other places can't. That, pure and simple, is why the school board keeps coming back to local residents.