Ohio voters in Clark and Medina counties reject income taxes

Voters across the state rejected income tax levies, once again underscoring the headwinds facing taxes in Ohio.

On Tuesday, voters in Independence, Parma, and Amherst and Clark and Medina counties were among those who rejected the income tax levies, according to reports from Cleveland.com and elsewhere.

Voters in the Clark-Shawnee Local School District again rejected an earned income tax levy after opposing it twice last year, with 73% voting against it in November 2025 and 68% in May 2025, the Springfield newspaper reported.

The Clark County Board of Elections results indicated that 62% of people opposed the levies, while 38% supported them, the news source reported.

Superintendent Brian Kuhn told the News-Sun that the school district officials were “disappointed in the results of tonight’s election,” but said that they “value all who chose to participate in the primary.”

“The district will move forward with our reduction plan effective with the start of the 2026-27 school year. Our commitment to our community remains unchanged. We will continue to wholeheartedly serve our students with dedication and excellence while simultaneously taking necessary steps to self-stabilize our general fund,” he told the news source.

The five-year, 1% earned-income tax levy that voters rejected would have funded the district’s operations, with the news source adding that the levy would not have affected people living on retirement, pensions, or Social Security, and the only ones who would’ve been forced by law to pay the levy were people who are either employed by someone else or are self-employed.

The district officials told the news source that if the majority of voters voted for the levy, it would have raised approximately $3.1 million each year.

Kuhn told the News-Sun that the levy’s approval was critical because it would have improved the district’s financial situation over the past five years, especially given that Ohio lawmakers recently began passing — and Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed — property tax reforms.

There were also two other reasons the district was not doing well financially, according to Kuhn: flat state funding and rising costs across the board.

Even though the district would’ve laid off four teachers anyway, due to the recently rejected levy, the district would be forced to “reduce 1.5 teaching and 1.5 support staff positions, eliminate high school and K-8 busing within a two-mile radius of the school, eliminate all field trips such as museums, zoos, historical sites and concerts (which doesn’t include student-paid tours such as the 8th grade Washington D.C. trip), and reduce the curriculum, technology and building budgets by 10%,” the news source reported.

People in Medina County also voted to oppose an income tax levy, with the Medina County Board of Elections reporting that more than 69.6% opposed it and only 30.4% supported it, according to Cleveland.com.

After Ohioans in the Wadsworth City School District rejected a 1.5% levy, the district laid off 20 teachers, three administrators, eight classroom aides, and three custodians, and eliminated more than $1 million from the supplies budget, the news source reported.