Voters will be asked one question on which they will vote “yes” or “no” to a combination 1.6 mill bond issue and a 0.7 mill permanent improvement levy.

Issue 32 will be on the November 7, 2023, ballot. 

If you are uncertain of your voting location, please use the link below from the Stark County Board of Elections. Polling locations open at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. https://stark.oh-vote.org/VoterView/PollingPlaceSearch.do  

The Board of Education will need to decide when and how they would go back to the voters to pass a bond levy for Phase II. The OFCC’s $33.8M of funding will not increase to cover inflationary cost escalations. That means that every year that we need to wait will cost the local taxpayers additional money because they will have to pay 100% of the increased project costs.

The purpose of the 1.6 mill bond issue that is part of Issue 32 is to provide money for the site preparation and construction of a new middle school for the North Canton City School District.  The purpose of the 0.7 mill permanent improvement levy is to provide funds for ongoing maintenance and upkeep of the newly constructed school buildings in the district (0.5 mills) and to provide a revenue stream to pay for the cost of renovations to Hoover High School over approximately the next ten years (0.2 mills). After renovations are completed at Hoover High School, the funds generated by the 0.2 mills will then be added to the funds generated by the current permanent improvement levy that was passed in 2014 that helps to pay for technology, textbooks, new buses, and equipment each year in the district. 

The passage of Issue 32 will generate the following:

• The 1.6 mill bond issue will generate $27.8 million to be used for site preparation and construction of a new middle school, to be repaid annually over a maximum period of 36 years.
• The 0.7 mills tax level will generate approximately $700,000 annually, of which approximately $500,00 will be set aside to pay for upkeep and maintenance of the new buildings and $200,000 each year will go toward the cost of renovations that will take place at Hoover High School for approximately ten years. After renovations are completed at Hoover High School, the $200,000 per year will supplement funds that are generated from the permanent improvement levy that was passed in 2014 which goes toward paying for technology, textbooks, new buses, and equipment each year in the district

Yes. The state will pay approximately 37% of the cost of the new middle school.  Also, because the North Canton City School District community elected to pay 100% of the cost for the Phase I facilities project, which was the construction of the new North Canton Primary School and the new North Canton Intermediate School, the district has a credit of approximately 37% from that project.  All together the state will pay for $33.8 million of the total cost of $57.6 million for site preparation and construction cost of a new middle school. 

Back in March 2020 when the voters were asked to approve millage for the construction of the two new elementary school buildings in North Canton, the district’s turn to be funded by the state had not yet come up.  If the district had waited to start the design process for the two new elementary school buildings until its turn to be funded did come up, which was in January 2023, construction costs for the two new buildings would have increased dramatically due to annual inflation and the increase in construction costs that occurred after the COVID-19 pandemic.  Additionally, that would have delayed the district’s timeline to attempt to construct a new middle school by almost three years, which would have subsequently increased the cost of the new middle school due to annual inflation.

Yes. The North Canton City School District is required by the state to add 0.5 mills, in addition to the 1.6 mills that will be required to construct the new middle school, in order to ensure a funding source for the maintenance and upkeep of the newly constructed buildings. This is the reason for the permanent improvement levy that is referenced in the answer to question #’s 2 and 3. 

The taxes paid by property owners on the 1.6 mills will be for a maximum of 36 years while the taxes paid on the 0.7 mills will be continuing.

The additional cost in property taxes for the 2.3 mills will be $6.71 per month per $100,000 of property value.  A resident living in a home worth $200,000 will pay approximately $13.42 per month. 

The taxable value of any residential property in Ohio is always 35% of the appraised value.  So begin with the value that your property is appraised at by the Stark County Auditor (https://realestate.starkcountyohio.gov/search/commonsearch.aspx?mode=realprop) and then multiply that value by 0.35 to get your property’s taxable value.  Then multiply that taxable value by 0.00230 to calculate the yearly amount of additional tax.

If Issue 32 passes on the November 7, 2023 election day, then property owners will see the increase in their property taxes statements that they pay starting in 2024.

The district passed a bond issue for 3.6 mills in May 2020 to fund the construction of the new primary school and intermediate school, which both opened to students in August 2023.  Prior to that, voters last passed an operating levy in May 2018 at which time the district told voters that the revenue generated from that levy would adequately fund operations in the district for five years, or until 2023.  The present financial forecast for the district is that the funds generated from the 2018 operating levy will adequately fund the district until at least 2026. 

A general operating levy is a property tax used for any school district purpose but primarily for either operating expenses or permanent improvement funding. A bond issue is a property tax levy used to provide a school district with local revenue for construction purposes. The county auditor determines the rate of a bond levy needed each year to service the principal and interest owed on the amount of bonded debt approved by voters when they approved the bond levy. Bond levies remain in place until the debt (principal and interest) is fully paid.

Yes. The district plans to construct the new middle school on the property located on the south side of Hoover High School, which lies on the north side of 7^th Street.

One advantage will be better utilization of staff and students’ time.  Presently, there are some staff members who teach at both Hoover High School and North Canton Middle School, and travel time between buildings for these staff members will be eliminated.  Additionally, there are presently more than 100 eighth graders who take high school coursework at the end of each school day and are bused each day to Hoover High School for those classes.  Having the middle school beside Hoover High School will eliminate the need for busing and the travel time that is required for those students as they will be able to walk from the middle school to the high school. Additionally, having the two buildings in the same location will provide additional opportunities for flexibility in staffing.

Just like students in our new Preschool through 5^th grade buildings are now experiencing state of the art technology, improved air ventilation systems, and a learning environment that has much more natural light, warm colors, and spaces that have multiple use options and are designed to promote more collaborative learning, our middle school students will also experience these upgrades to their learning environment.  Research has shown that all of these factors improve the abilities for teachers to teach, improve the overall learning experience for students, improve attendance, and improve the overall mental health of both students and staff.  Additionally, the classrooms designed for the visual and performing arts and the student media center will be upgraded significantly compared to what presently exists at the current North Canton Middle School, which will also help foster the creativity and passion that exist in so many of our students in these areas.

Yes. Compared to older buildings, such as our current North Canton Middle School which was originally constructed in 1957, new school buildings are more efficient in how they are designed, constructed, and operated. While utility costs can vary each year based on temperature ranges, school districts that have done building projects to replace old buildings have seen a reduction in natural gas and electric costs by as much as 25%.  For North Canton, that could equate to as much as $18,000 in annual savings in these costs at the middle school. 

The original section of the current middle school building was built in 1957, which was before school security from an armed intruder was ever considered. Over the years, the district has made some changes and modifications to its procedures as well as constructed vestibules to screen visitors, but total building security is not at the level that it could be with a new building.

Our district has many students with special physical needs, which has created costly construction projects to attempt to retro-fit entrances, hallways, classrooms, and bathrooms to accommodate their needs as best we can in a safe manner.  However, with our current middle school building having been constructed in 1957 and with additions in the 1960’s and 1970s, such modifications are extremely costly and still do not provide our students with an ADA compliant building that is designed focusing on the safety and accessibility of ALL students.

Another area of student safety not envisioned decades ago is the amount of car traffic from student drop-off and pick-up before and after school. New design and construction would take into account the car traffic and place it at a safe distance from the locations that are designated for student walkers and school buses.

No.  While the new middle school would be located adjacent to Hoover High School, the two buildings will still operate as two separate buildings.  However, the adjacent location will allow for less travel time for the approximately 100 eighth grade students who end their day taking high school classes at Hoover High School and will allow for more flexibility in when advanced middle school students who already take high school classes can have their high school classes take place throughout the school day. Additionally, the adjacent location will make the sharing of middle and high school staff more feasible when the need exists as they will basically have no travel time between the two buildings compared to the travel time that is currently required for staff who are employed at both the middle school and high school levels.

Using land presently owned by the district is a huge cost savings and there is very limited availability of such land to build on.  Lastly, locating the middle school adjacent to Hoover High School offers many logistics benefits in district operations.

Money is in the budget to abate and demolish the current North Canton Middle School. The board of education has not yet determined, if Issue 32 passes, the future use, if any, for the land on which the middle school resides.

Yes. NCCS has always been proactive in allowing the public to use our buildings as much as possible. We do this daily. For example, we have an indoor walking track at Hoover HS open to our residents to use each day, Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. When the weather turns too hot or too cold, we will commonly see over 50 people walking per day between 7:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. In addition, our performing arts hall is rented out over 70 days per year for community events such as community choirs, community theater, dance recitals and youth sports banquets. When you add in all the school events, there is hardly a day that goes by that Hoover Hall is not in use.

Our school buildings are commonly used by area Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts for their monthly meetings. Community-based basketball, including the YMCA, use our elementary gyms for over 600 hours each year, and Hoover High School has been the host site to two local church camps. Additionally, the YMCA’s 12-week summer childcare program that provides safe and supervised summer fun for children whose parents need to work in the summer, has taken place in various North Canton City Schools buildings over the past few years. 

In 2010 NCCS took ownership of the Dogwood ballfield property along 7th Street NE. Since that time, we have maintained these fields and allowed them to be used for the following events: YMCA flag football, YMCA T-Ball, North Canton Youth Fast Pitch Softball, NC Youth Football, and perhaps most importantly, as the Community Fireworks launch site each July 4th. 

Two areas appeal to citizens of all ages. First, NCCS has maintained an agreement with the North Canton Playhouse to allow them to use space inside Hoover HS. With the recent upgrade paid entirely through private donations, each show can seat an audience of 200 people. Shows run year-round at Hoover High School. The North Canton Lions Club uses our facility rent free two times a year for one of the largest and most successful craft shows in Stark County. We know the Lions Club, in turn, invests that money back into projects that serve the residents of Stark County.

A facility design team will be developed if Issue 32 passes that will be made up of representatives from parents, community members, Ohio Facility Construction Commission, architects, construction managers, administrators, and teachers.

A facility design team will be formed for the development of the plans for the school buildings. Some community members will be part of the design team.  We will also have a “visioning” meeting that will involve staff, students, administration, and community members in order to help us make plans for buildings that will last 50 to 100 years. Our plan is to build practical, efficient buildings that provide us with the best possible opportunity to prepare our students for the future.

No. The good news for our students during the planned construction process is that no students will need to be displaced from their current schooling location during construction. Input has been gathered from the district’s pre-bond architect as well as its consultant from the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission to assure us a new middle school can be built with no disruption to the current middle school or the current Hoover High School, which is adjacent to the planned location for the new middle school would be located.

The general rule of thumb for school construction is one year to eighteen months to plan and about two to three years for construction. If Issue 32 passes, the district will begin the process very soon after the November 7th election day to secure an architect and construction manager and then work will begin very soon on the design phase.  Much of the early work during the design phase is behind the scenes work that would include designing the building and could also include a traffic study being done to determine if the existing roadways and infrastructure is sufficient to meet the demand of a school building or if changes will need to be made. A soil study is another example of behind the scenes work that would be done to ensure the quality of the ground where the buildings are planned to be placed is at its best. These are common practices in the construction world, as well as requirements for the school district as we are doing the project in coordination with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission. This will allow the district to receive 37% of the funding for the project plus the credit from the district’s Phase I construction project. The Ohio Facilities Construction Commission has partnered with local school districts to build over 1,000 school buildings since 1997. We are thrilled that North Canton residents finally have a chance to see the state money flow in to support our district.  So if the design and construction process all goes according to plan, a new North Canton Middle School most likely would open either mid-year in the 2026-27 school year or at the beginning of the 2027-28 school year.

Yes. The district has had some preliminary plans drawn up and has determined that a new middle school building will fit on the property along with adding the necessary staff parking to accommodate the middle school staff.  A traffic study will be conducted to determine if turn lanes to go into the new middle school would need to be installed on 7^th Street and if it would be beneficial to extend the access road that currently runs around two-thirds of the present Hoover High School property all the way around Hoover High School from the current 7^th Street entrance that is east of Hoover High School to the current 7^th Street entrance that is west of Hoover High School. 

The school district has had no conversation with the city pertaining to acquiring the Dogwood Pool property and has no plans to pursue acquiring the property.  

First, it is important to understand the age of the current North Canton Middle School is 66 years old as it was built as the original Hoover High School in 1957.  Not only do many North Canton residents live in homes that are significantly newer, most school buildings in Stark County school districts were built well after 1957 and many in the last 20 years. Until the new North Canton Primary School and the new North Canton Intermediate School opened up this past August, the North Canton City School District was one of the final three school districts out of 17 total Stark County School districts that had not built a new school building in the last 20 years (Marlington and Perry were the other two).  Many districts in Stark County have used millions of dollars in state funding, which is now available to us to demolish and replace all or most of their school buildings in the last 15-20 years. Here is a list of those districts: Northwest, Tuslaw, East Canton, Louisville, Lake, Canton City, Sandy Valley, Minerva, Canton Local, Jackson, and Plain Local.

While some community members may question the condition of our buildings, we are proud to say that our buildings have outlasted most of the school buildings in Stark County. Now it is a question of spending our dollars on old buildings that need constant upkeep for heating, cooling, roofing, and plumbing repair/replacement or building new.  Because of the age of North Canton Middle School, it encompasses a large portion of our district’s budget to pay for constant repairs and upkeep.  This money could be better used supporting students in the classroom. A new middle school under this plan using state funding would be more energy efficient.  Other districts that have replaced old school buildings with newer more energy efficient school buildings have seen their operating costs reduced by as much as 25% for electricity and natural gas. This could equate to as much as $18,000 in savings in utilities expenses at the middle school level. 

Finally, and certainly most importantly, while the current middle school building could still be used to educate students, it was constructed to educate students for a world that no longer exists. In the mid 1950’s, a large portion of a school’s graduates were headed off to work in manufacturing and a good portion of that was assembly line work. Now, we must prepare students to work in an information society. Many will work in job fields that do not exist today.

As part of the 7th Street renovation project, over 10,000 cubic yards of dirt were taken off of the baseball field to help level the playing surface. We anticipate being able to use that dirt in the near future on the next phase of the 7th Street project or other future projects within the district. Keeping the dirt on our property for this short time will save us hundreds of thousands of dollars in trucking and fill costs.