Amherst Exempted Village Schools — OH

1. Snapshot

Suburb-Midsize district in Lorain County, immediately west of Elyria (the two appear in many of the same MCP peer lists). 3,533 students across 4 schools — Marion L. Steele HS (1,014), Amherst Junior HS (859), Powers ES PK-3 (1,104 — large for a single elementary), Walter G. Nord MS 4-5 (556). SAIPE poverty 6.9% — second-lowest in your 7-district set, after only Streetsboro. Demographics 73% White / 17% Hispanic / 5% Multiracial — substantial Hispanic share for a Lake Erie suburb. Per-pupil expenditure $12,027 (FY2020) — among the lowest in the entire 7-district set, and the lowest among Suburb-Midsize peers in the MCP top-15.

2. Why this was a hard sell — community context (ACS)

This is a wealthy, high-homeownership, comparatively low-poverty community that should be passing levies. The income-tax structure is the explanatory variable. An earned-income tax of 1.5% on a $86K household = $1,300/year — for life, with no sunset. That’s the political problem. The opposition argument writes itself: “I work in Amherst, live in Vermilion or Lorain; I’m being asked to fund schools my kids don’t go to,” or the reverse — “I retired here, no earned income, pay nothing; my working neighbors get hit.” Earned-income tax structures unbundle the tax base from the homeowner base and create coalitional politics very different from a property-tax levy.

3. Peer comparison

Top peers identified via MCP (enrollment 0.18, poverty 0.15, perPupilExp 0.15, locale 0.12, demographics 0.10, staffing 0.10, plantOps 0.20):

Amherst appeared in Saginaw Township’s peer list (pilot brief MI-saginaw-township.md) — meaning Amherst is one of the named comparisons FMX is already using in pilot outreach. That’s a useful cross-reference.

4. The gap story (what the data would have shown voters)

Amherst is the lowest plant-ops spender in the cluster of all districts on this list outside of Wickliffe (which has a data anomaly).

• Plant operations spending: $1,012.00 / pupil vs national median $1,324 — 24% under the median, second-largest gap of any district in the 7-set. Seaman KS $1,024, Alma AR $1,013, Lumberton TX $983, De Pere WI $964, Reeths-Puffer MI $796 — Amherst is in the lower-spending band of its own peer cluster. Across the 6-district comparison, Amherst sits at $1,012 vs peer median $997 — not the worst, but among the worst.
• Capital construction outlay (FY2020): $958K — minimal for a district of 3,533 students.
• Per-pupil instruction $6,580 — the lowest in the peer comparison set (peer median $6,625; Seaman KS, De Pere WI both above). Amherst is spending less on classroom instruction per student than every named peer in its MCP top 15. That’s the lead with voters: we already spend the least, we can’t afford to spend less.
• 18 expulsions district-wide — the highest in the 6-district peer set (peer median: 3.5). Concentrated at Marion L. Steele HS (8) and Amherst JH (7). The discipline numbers are a leading indicator the levy campaign didn’t surface.
• Counselor ratio 505:1 — the worst counselor ratio in the peer comparison set (peer median 410:1). Powers Elementary has 1 counselor for 1,104 students.
• Chronic absenteeism: Amherst JH 19.3%, MS 11.0%, HS 8.9% — junior high is the trouble spot.

5. Levy history (per Chronicle Telegram)

• Spring 2025: Income tax, defeated
• Nov 2025: Issue 16, 1.5% continuing earned-income tax, defeated again
• Next ask: District has signaled another attempt despite back-to-back income-tax failures

This is a 2-for-2 failure on the same income-tax structure. The Saginaw Township pattern (scale down or restructure) hasn’t been triggered yet.

6. What voters / opposition actually said

The Chronicle Telegram framing (“the district says it has no choice but to try again”) implicitly captures the voter mood: a community willing to say no twice in seven months. The News 5 coverage focuses on the $5M in cuts the district is now being forced into by state “precautionary” status — layoffs, programming reductions, increased class sizes are the lever, not a hypothetical.

The opposition argument that defeats earned-income tax measures in Ohio is consistent: non-resident workers, retired residents, and small-business owners all have different relationships to an EIT than to a property tax, and the coalition that defeats it spans economic levels.

7. What we could have told them

1. “Per-student instruction spending: $6,580. Lowest of every peer district we benchmark against in the United States.” This is the single strongest argument the campaign didn’t make. It directly contradicts “the schools are wasting money.”
2. “Powers Elementary: 1 counselor for 1,104 children. Marion L. Steele HS had 8 expulsions and 88 chronic absences last year. We’re not asking for new programs — we’re asking to keep the staffing we already have.” Specific, school-named.
3. “Plant operations: $1,012 per student. National median is $1,324. We’re spending 24% less than the average district to keep our buildings open. There’s no fat left.” The under-investment story Saginaw Township also tells, in a community that has more tax capacity than Saginaw does.
4. Avon Lake spends $13,961 per student; Amherst spends $12,027. The same-county, similar-demographics peer is investing nearly $2,000 more per student per year — and Avon Lake passes levies. Make that comparison explicit.
5. Switch from income tax to a more familiar levy structure for the next ask. Two failures on an earned-income tax with no scale-down means the structure is the issue, not the dollar amount. Ohio voters in homeowner-majority suburbs (78% owner-occupied here) understand property tax levies — the EIT carries an explanation cost that the campaign hasn’t paid down.

8. FMX outreach hook

Amherst is a strong fit but with a structural caveat: this isn’t a bond-driven failure where facility-condition data is the load-bearing pitch. It’s an operating dollars failure where the FMX value-prop is showing under-investment vs peers, which directly defends against “cut more”. Contact unit is named: Michael Molnar (Superintendent), Amelia Gioffredo (Treasurer), Chuck Grimmett (Building & Grounds Supervisor).

Lead with Chuck Grimmett — unlike most districts on this list, Amherst has a named facilities head, which means the data conversation can start at the right altitude. Treasurer Amelia Gioffredo is the financial co-owner of the next ballot’s narrative.

Opener: “You’re 24% below the national median on plant operations spending, and the lowest per-pupil instructional spender in your entire peer comparison set. The next ask — whatever month it lands on — needs to be defended with ‘we have nothing left to cut, and here’s the work-order data and condition scores that prove it.’ Avon Lake across the county invests $2K more per student per year and passes levies. Reeths-Puffer Michigan and a redacted TX peer in your MCP top 15 are likely already running FMX. We can have your building portfolio benchmarked in 60 days, with per-building condition scores you can put in front of voters before the May 2026 ballot.”

Note: Amherst appears as a peer comparison in Saginaw Township’s brief, which means FMX is already using it as a reference point in pilot outreach. This is an opportunity to convert the district being referenced into a customer.