For Domonique Davis, the passage of Cincinnati Public Schools’ property tax levy earlier this month wasn’t about abstract budget lines — it was about her third-grade son finally catching up on 70 hours of missing speech instruction. Davis, a Spring Grove Village mother of three children in CPS, voted for the levy and says she is relieved the district narrowly avoided deeper cuts that she believes would have hit kids like her son, Matthew, hardest.
Matthew relies on speech therapy to communicate and receives an individualized education plan as part of his schooling, according to a report from WLWT. Davis told the station that recent district shifts left Matthew significantly behind on his speech therapy requirements after his speech pathologist was shifted between two schools, straining the services written into his plan. Entering this school year, Matthew had to make up dozens of hours of instruction, and WLWT reports he is still missing 70 hours of instruction called for in his IEP, even as his team has worked to find solutions to help him keep up.
Davis described one moment as a silver lining amid the disruption: Matthew introducing himself to a librarian at the Clifton branch library, greeting her on his own. It’s the kind of small, hard-won progress that Davis says made the stakes of the levy vote feel personal rather than political.
Why the Levy Vote Carried So Much Weight
Cincinnati voters approved the district’s five-year, 7-mill property tax levy on Nov. 3, following years of mass layoffs and budget cuts at CPS. According to WVXU, the measure passed by a margin of 61% to 39% with all precincts reporting, though the Centre Daily Times, citing unofficial election results, reported the levy passed with 60% of the vote. CPS officials say the levy protects programs and additional resources for students with learning differences, and the district estimates the measure will generate approximately $66.3 million annually, or roughly $331.7 million over five years, per figures published by Cincinnati Public Schools…