The Ohio Supreme Court dismissed 47 school board property tax appeals cases based on a previous ruling

The Supreme Court of Ohio, in a unanimous decision on Wednesday, upheld lower-court decisions denying multiple local school districts’ challenges to property tax valuations in 47 cases.

The entry was based on the court’s May ruling that upheld a 2022 law that prevents boards of education from appealing the tax valuation of a property they do not own or lease.

Olentangy Local School District Board of Education, the district that was involved in the case that led to the court’s May ruling, was also involved in 27 of the cases decided in the entry.

Other appellants included boards of education for the Cleveland Municipal School District, Delaware City School District, Dublin City Schools, Lancaster City School District, Marysville Exempted Village Schools, and Westerville City School District.

The cases involved properties owned by a private school, the Columbus Classical Academy; a senior living facility; a retail and commercial property development company; and multiple apartment complexes and real estate companies.

The Supreme Court issued a 6-1 decision upholding two lower court rulings after Olentangy appealed the board of revision’s dismissal of its case challenging the tax valuations for two property-holding companies, and upheld a 2022 law that prevents school boards from appealing tax valuations for properties in their districts.

In a statement to WOSU Public Media, the Olentangy school district said it was disappointed in the ruling and that it participates in the Board of Revisions appeals processes “to protect its real property tax base, which constitutes a major source of its funding.”

House Bill 126 was passed and signed into law in 2022. The legislation changed sections of the Ohio Revised Code that previously allowed school boards to appeal to the BTA for any property tax valuations or to a common court of appeals regarding valuations of property owned or leased by the district, and limited school boards to only filing appeals for valuations of school property.

School boards could appeal valuations for any property in the district before the changes to the Revised Code.

Columbus Fox 28 TV did an investigative story on school boards filing appeals in 2017. Columbus City School Board sued 760 property owners, including at least one single-family homeowner, and paid more than $500,000 to the Rich and Gillis Law Firm to file the lawsuits, according to a report by ABC 6.

“I would fall it short of calling it predatory, but I would say it is deeply unfair,” Franklin County Auditor Clarence Mingo told ABC 6. This is a challenging experience. Most people cannot bear the weight of litigating against government.”

Former state Rep. Derek Merrin, R-Lucas County, who was the primary sponsor of HB 126, said that local governments in his district filed 489 property tax valuation appeals in 2016 and 204 in 2019, in his 2021 testimony to the House Ways & Means Committee.

The state’s highest court also decided a 48th case, Bedford City Schools Board of Education v. the Cuyahoga County Board of Revision, on Wednesday.

The decision upheld an Eighth District Court of Appeals judgment based on both the 2026 Olentangy Local decision and its 2024 ruling that the Marysville Exempted Village School District could continue to challenge the property tax value of a private residential complex despite the 2022 change in state law.