On December 19, 2025, Ohio’s Governor Mike DeWine signed into law a collection of property tax reform bills that will reduce funding for public schools and other local government services.
The series of bills aims to reduce property taxes for homeowners; however, local government services rely on these taxes for funding. Public schools are an example of a service that will face funding cuts.
Richard Berdine, the Treasurer of the Revere School District, analyzed the setbacks the district will face as a result of the bills.
“As best I can tell today, December 23, those [laws] will have a net negative impact of roughly a million dollars a year moving forward for us starting in the fiscal year 2027,” Berdine said.
In Ohio, schools get a significant amount of their funding from real estate taxes. The amount of real estate taxes a person pays is based in part on the value of the person’s home as determined by the county auditor. The county auditor reappraises property values every three years. Berdine gave an example of how this works.
“I just read recently, the median home value in Revere is $418,000 so assuming that to be a correct number, which came out from the legislature, if the next time Summit County reappraises properties and they say that a $418,000 property is now worth $500,000, that would be a roughly twenty percent increase,” Berdine said.
Prior to the new laws, real estate taxes were increased based on an increase in the value of the property. So using Berdine’s example, the district’s revenue would have increased by approximately twenty percent based upon the increased property value; however, now with the new laws, the increase in real estate taxes is limited, thus giving the schools less money.
“We wouldn’t yield as much revenue growth as we have in the past because of the passage [of the laws]. Thus, from my last forecast that I presented to the Board [of Education that] they approved and submitted to the state, we will lose about a million dollars a year starting next school year,” Berdine said.
In their roles, Berdine and Superintendent Dan White work together with the Board of Education to support the Revere community to achieve its educational goals. Managing the fiscal affairs of the school district is one of their key responsibilities.
“[My job is] instructional leadership, making sure that we are working to prepare all of our students for their future, so that they learn what they need to learn, help them discover their talents and gifts, develop them and find careers and jobs that align to those things. I would say I serve as a liaison between the community schools and the Board of Education. I work here to serve our community,” White said.
Berdine’s role as treasurer is more than managing finances but also to advocate for those in the Revere district who benefit from Revere educational services.
“It involves spending money. Whether that be payroll, insurance, purchasing supplies, textbooks, utilities, any of those types of things come through here. Our role is to do whatever is best for Revere from the Board of Education, which is about serving our constituents,” Berdine said.
As it stands right now, there will be no immediate impacts for the Revere district, however, after speaking with superintendents from surrounding districts, White learned that other schools are not as fortunate.
“We’re sitting on that balance that I mentioned, so we have time to review and confirm with our board and then plan accordingly, so we don’t have to take any drastic immediate measures. But that would not be true for a number of districts across the state. I can tell you specific districts might be in immediate danger,” White said.
If the one million dollar a year funding reduction continues for the next four years, Revere may need to ask residents for a tax increase called a levy.
“One of my jobs is to do what is best for Revere and for my Board of Education. The longer we can go without asking our constituents for a new tax levy, the better it is. We have not asked for one since 2011 for operating purposes, so we are on a fifteen-year run. There is a chance we can get out to 2030 without the need to ask, but if you lose four million dollars, the need to ask will become sooner than if this legislation had not passed,” Berdine said.
In terms of the potential impacts of the community, White expressed the concern that the funding shortfalls caused by the laws also reach other local government services such as first responders.
“I think in my lifetime I’ve had to dial 911 maybe twice, but I love the fact I can call 911 and have zero questions whether or not there’s going to be somebody to answer that call and be able to send either police or fire rescue in every situation I’m encountering as a citizen. I never want to be in a position for any of us where we would have to question what happens if I call 911,” White said.
Bill Roemer, Representative for 31st House District and Chairman of the Ohio House Ways and Means Committee, played an instrumental role in the shaping and passage of the legislation.
When creating this law, Roemer noticed the biggest problem with property taxes in Ohio was affordability.
“The biggest driving force is that families could not afford the massive unvoted increases in property taxes. Then, what we did is we broke that down into five separate bills that dealt with that, and the other principle of transparency saying you should know what you’re voting on,” Roemer said.
Roemer argues that while schools may now be forced to ask tax payers for money, tax payers now have the option to decide how much they want to pay in taxes to local services.
“The biggest benefit is that it stops the unvoted spikes. One is that there should be transparency. People should know what they are voting on, [so] that [is] why we eliminated a couple kinds of levies [with this law]. We wanted to make sure if you are voting for a new levy that costs more, it will say this is a new levy that costs more,” Roemer said.
House Bill 186 prevents increases in school district property tax revenue from exceeding the rate of inflation.
“Schools will still be receiving increases at the rate of inflation, and voters will have the opportunity now to have direct input into increases in their taxes. I think for the treasurer to say ‘We need all of this extra money, every penny’ when people are struggling to pay and are losing their homes is not correct,” Roemer said.
