Board meeting documents from October 2025 show a levy will need to be on the ballot in November 2026. This levy will impact the property taxes that ALL members of the Sycamore community pay. Strong fiscal understanding is vital to oversee the district’s $130 million operating budget and the $450 million in district assets, as well as to plan for a levy. Click here to listen to the October 2025 Board Meeting with the 5-year forecast presentation.

The 5-year forecast presentation at the October 8, 2025 Board meeting shows passage of a levy is imperative. See the chart of the District Cash Flow Trend and Prediction below. Failure to pass a levy will put a financial strain on the district. When a levy fails, this can cause staff reductions, increase student to teacher classroom ratios, and impact Special Needs services, AP offerings, and more. The last time a Sycamore levy failed, in 2004, the Board was forced to terminate 20 teachers.

In a 2019 study published by David Brasington of the University of Cincinnati, failure to renew school levies in Ohio between 1999 and 2012 reduced home prices on average by 5.9% Arguably, this impact may be more extreme given the proximity to strong, stable districts (Wyoming, Indian Hill, Mason, etc) and the higher values of Sycamore homes.

Over the past year, under BOE President Sara Bitter, the district’s expenses increased by over $8 million. This represents a staggering 8.7% increase year on year. A sustainable threshold is around a 3% increase year on year. This dramatic rate of spending increase will require an operating levy sooner than should have been necessary.

In 2023, Sara Bitter was elected Board President. Under her leadership, Superintendent Chad Lewis has been under investigation 524 of 586 days. He has been cleared in all investigations. Due in part to these unprecedented investigations, legal expenses escalated to over $588,000 in the 2024-25 fiscal year.

Serious conflicts of interest concerns were brought to light with 3 current Board members and the previous teacher union leader Danielle Scrase. The turmoil over the last year, has resulted in community distrust, an active lawsuit alleging an Open Meetings violation, and an inability to create a unifying culture within the Board, within the District, and across the community.