Below is a brief summary of the 66 school levies that were on the ballot in the May 5th primary election. Note that the Secretary of State (SOS) Local Issues Preview spreadsheet showed 65 school levies on the ballot. However, the North Central Local School district 1.0% new school district income tax issue appears to have been pulled from the ballot, the SOS levy preview miscoded the Archbold Local 3.22 mill current expense renewal levy as a village levy, and the SOS file completely omitted the Louisville City 4.0 mill current expense renewal levy. Thus, there were a total of 66 school levies on the ballot in the May primary election. The results summarized below are based on data provided by the Ohio School Boards Association.
While there were fewer total school levies and renewal levies on the primary ballot than in recent years, there are also more school district income tax levies, more new levies and more continuing levies on the ballot than there have been in the last seven years.
1. Overall May 5, 2026 School Levy Results
Overall, 24 of the 66 (36.4%) school levies on the May 2026 primary ballot passed. This passage rate is just over half the 66.7% passage rate of the May 2025 primary election when 66 of 99 school levies passed. However, as mentioned above, the mix of school levies on the May 2026 primary ballot is distinctly different than the mix over the last several primary elections.
2. May 2026 Capital vs Operating School Levy Results
The passage rate of school capital levies (bond, bond combination, and permanent improvement levies) was roughly the same in the May 2026 primary election.
Capital Levies: 5 of 13 Capital levies passed (38.5%)
1/6 bond and Bond combo levies passed (16.7%)
4 of 7 permanent improvement levies passed (57.1%)
Operating Levies: 19 of 53 Operating levies passed (35.8%)
11 of 22 property tax operating levies passed (50.0%)
8 of 31 school district income tax (SDIT) operating levies passed (25.8%)
3. May 2026 New School Levy Results
In May 2025 only 24 of 68 (35.3%) of school operating levies on the ballot were new levies. In May 2026, 40 of 53 (75.5%) of operating levies on the ballot were new levies. Because new school levies historically pass at less than half the rate of renewal levies, the high proportion of new operating levies on the ballot is the primary reason that the 2026 primary election school levy passage rate is much lower than the rate in 2025.
A. 2 of 10 New Capital Levies passed (20.0%). 1 of 6 bond and bond combo levies passed while 1 of 4 new PI levies passed. One of the new PI levies was an income tax rather than a property tax.
B. 4 of 12 new Property Tax Operating levies passed (33.3%)
C. 6 of 28 new School District Income Tax Operating levies passed (21.4%)
D. 10 of 40 New Operating levies (both property and income tax) passed (25.0%). This rate is exactly half the passage rate in May 2025 when 50.0% (12 of 24) new operating levies passed.
Overall, 12 of 50 New school levies (24.0%) passed in the May 2026 primary election.
4. May 2026 Renewal School Levy Results
A. 3 of 3 renewal Capital Levies passed (100.0%). All three of the Capital renewal levies were PI levies as Bond and Bond Combination levies are always new levies as they cannot be renewed.
B. 7 of 10 Renewal Property Tax Operating levies passed (70.0%).
C. 2 of 3 Renewal School District Income Tax Operating levies passed (66.7%)
D. 9 of 13 Renewal operating levies (both property and income tax) passed (69.2%).
Overall, 12 of 16 Renewal school levies (75.0%) passed in the May 2026 primary election.
5. May 2026 Continuing vs. Term-Limited School Levy Results
30 of the 53 school operating levies on the May 2026 ballot were for a limited time period (ranging from 3 to 10 years) while 23 were for a continuing period of time.
12 of the 30 term-limited operating levies (40.0%) passed.
7 of the 23 continuing operating levies passed (30.4%).
Thus, while there was a 10 percentage higher passage rate for term-limited operating levies, this difference is much smaller than the difference in passage rate for new vs renewal school levies.
Download the full report here: OEPI May 2026 School Levy Results.
