Superintendent’s Corner – Dana Addis

For the first time since 2011, the Hudson City School district is working with our community on an operating levy.  You will see this on the Nov. 7 ballot as Issue 9. I have always seen these as opportunities for financial conversations with community members, and our desire is to provide important and factual information. As you may be aware, by law, any school district is committed to presenting only facts to its community, so that is the goal of this article.  

  1. This is a 5.5-mill operating levy, and it is the first operating levy on the ballot since 2011. Any operating levy funds are used to sustain day-to-day operations for the district, such as staff salaries, benefits, utilities, supplies and transportation (fuel, repairs).  
  2. The district has a levy facts website that can be accessed at hudson.k12.oh.us. Scroll down to Our School Stories and Operating Levy Info.  
  3. The website will include a levy calculator, where residents can either type in their address or find their home on the map and click on it. Either path will allow you to have an understanding of the approximate levy cost for your home.  
  4. A homeowner would pay an estimated $16.04 per month for every $100,000 in home value.
  5. Residents recently received two assessed values from the Summit County Auditor’s Office. The Nov. 7 levy is for the current, 2022 assessed value – not the new, 2023 assessed value.  
  6. We encourage you to call with questions, or you can email at levyquestion@hudson.k12.oh.us.

I’ve received several questions from residents about the student benefit of their financial support. Here are some academic facts that relate to district performance:

  1. The 2023 State Report Card rates Hudson City Schools as a Five-Star District.  
  2. Hudson City Schools is one of 55 districts (out of 607) to earn Five Stars in Early Literacy.  
  3. Hudson’s Performance Index score of 105.1 ranks it as #20 (out of 607) in that category.  
  4. Hudson High School has eight National Merit Semi-Finalists for 2024.
  5. U.S. News & World Report ranks Hudson High School #19 among Ohio high schools and #504 in the nation. 
  6. Niche.com places Hudson City Schools as the 9th Best School District in Ohio out of 607 districts and ranks us #159 out of 10,751 school districts studied nationally.  

Please be comfortable in reaching out with questions about our school district.  Communicating with this community is one of the many things we want to do well. ∞