15-05-2025
No levy on November ballot: Canfield State of the Schools
CANFIELD, Ohio (WKBN) — There will not be a Canfield Schools levy on the ballot in November but school officials say the need still exists.
Canfield Superintendent Joe Knoll was two-thirds of the way through the State of the Schools presentation when he announced that the earliest another levy would be on the ballot would be May of 2026.
'Now with all that said, I know what people are saying, 'Hold on now Mr. Knoll, things aren't getting any better as we're standing here,' and that's accurate,' Knoll said.
Knoll then announced two projects for the summer. First, $100,000 to fix the middle school roof over the choir room and book room.
'And I know what people are saying… 'that building's 102 years old.' I get it, but we've got to spend money to get things up to date and keep them safe for our staff and students,' Knoll said.
Second, the parking lots at the high school will be paved.
'This project's going to be close to $500,000 of paving. I know that's a big spend but it's definitely a need at the high school,' Knoll said.
'We're getting a pretty good bang for our buck here,' Treasurer Pattie Prince said.
Prince explained how Canfield has the ninth-lowest effective millage rate in Mahoning County, that Canfield's cost per pupil of $11,124 is 10% below Ohio's average, and 69% of the school system's money comes from property taxes.
'We're heavily reliant on property taxes, which is all local support and we do thank the community for that support,' Prince said.
Knoll also explained a new security measure that will be used next year in all four Canfield Schools. It's called ZeroEyes Gun Detection Technology. When a gun is detected on any school camera, artificial intelligence takes over.
'And within three to five seconds, they notify me, our SROs, police, on where's the threat, what's it look like, all those good things,' Knoll said.
It was also announced that a new $250,000 scoreboard will be installed over the summer at the football stadium — all paid for by the boosters club.
Also announced were 13 new courses for next year at Canfield High School. They include Data Driven Decision Making, Advanced Aviation, History of Rock & Roll, Sports Medicine 2, and Sports Psychology.
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