A levy that’s been around for 29 years will, again, appear on the ballot, but with a few additions this year.

The Zanesville City Schools Emergency Renewal Levy, which is roughly a $1.5 million levy, originally passed in 1989 and has appeared on the ballot for renewal every five years since its passage.

The levy is appearing a year early, as the last time it appeared was 2014, in order for ZCS to plan ahead depending on the passage or failure. Although, the money coming from the levy won’t been seen by the school, or collected from Zanesville residents, until 2020.

Two additions to the renewal of the levy include putting it on a 10-year renewal basis rather than the five-year renewal basis it has been on. Emergency levies can now be passed for 10 years instead of the typical five year cycle due to a revision of the ORC in section 5705.194.

Secondly, ZCS are asking for an additional $500,000 for school security and safety. A large majority of that money will go toward paying school resource offices within each of the six school buildings throughout the district.

To break down the money down to a more personalized number, ZCS Treasurer Mike Young said that the addition would cost roughly $45.50 per year, per homeowner if their home is valued at $100,000.

“We’re coming back to say, ‘We want to have this levy renewed to continue to do the things that we would like to do and have been doing with it in the past, but we would also like to add $500,000 to that to cover the cost of our school resource officers and to add safety items to the district,’” Dr. Doug Baker, Zanesville City Schools Superintendent, said.

School resource officers within the district make between $70,000 and $75,000 annually, totaling $420,000 to $450,000 per year.

Currently, there are permanent SRO at five of the six ZSC building; Four full-time Zanesville City Police Officers and one Muskingum County Sheriff’s Deputy. The sixth building, one of the Zane Grey Elementary School buildings, has rotating ZPD officers on extra-duties throughout the week.

The goal, according to Baker and Young, is to secure the last permanent school resource officer to have the same officer in the same school building every weekday.

“We like to have the same officer everyday because of the relationships with the students, relationship with the staff, relationship with parents; they get to know students and families and teachers, and teachers get to know them, and that just creates a better atmosphere for everybody,” Baker said.

The additional funds from the levy, given that everyone pays their taxes and the anticipated money comes in, will go toward locking mechanisms on the doors, intercom buzz-in system at the entrances, cameras, lighting and the film on doors and windows that allows people inside to see out but people outside cannot see in.

“It’s important for us to maintain that proactive stance of safety inside our buildings for our students and staff, and it’s unfortunate that that’s kind of the world we live in right now, but it is,” Baker said. “So we want to make sure that students and staff and visitors to our campus feel safe and secure here.”

If any additional capital leftover,  the money will go toward other things like computers and busing, primarily. There is a full list of possible things the money could go toward.

None of the additional funding, of the $500,000, will go toward salary and benefits of any staff members outside of the school resource officers.

Each of the school buildings already has a paid school resource officer. Baker said those officers were a result of planning ahead in the short-run. As staff has retired or moved on to other districts, some positions within ZCS have been absorbed instead of being replaced. That allowed for the short-term hiring of the officers.

“We think this is something we want to take past the short run,” Baker, who has been Superintendent for four years said. “So to get us past the short-run, we need the levy to pass.”

School resource officers began four years ago within ZCS, but having one in every building was a decision made for the 2018-19 academic year.

“I’ve had several people tell me how their child had anxiety, and some of the home lives and different (things), they just feel that sense of security with that officer there,” Young said. “Their anxiety level has come down. They’re a little bit more relaxed.”

Given that the levy passes, school resource officers will stay and additional safety and security improvements will be made.

In the event that it doesn’t pass, Baker and Young said that budgetary cutbacks will be made. Although cutting into the “instruction” and learning of the students is at the bottom of the list of cutbacks, Young said that if the renewal’s $1.5 million is taken off the table, a lot of tough decisions will be made.

“I think the biggest barrier is, generally, everybody in the district know what’s on the outside of the buildings,” Young said. “They don’t know what goes on, on the inside.”

Looking to the future, if the levy passes and turns into a 10-year renewal, the new ZCS building levy will fall off by the next renewal as the buildings will be paid off in 10 years. The disappearance of that additional levy will benefit tax-payers in the community.

“We’re a year early with this, trying to allow people to have the opportunity to voice their opinion, ask questions, whatever and it won’t be collected until ‘20,” Young said. “We’re out in the future with this.”

There will be an informational meeting about the levy for anyone who is interested in learning more or asking questions on Nov. 1 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Giacomo’s.