By Cindy Kranz
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Forest Hills School District voters narrowly approved a continuing operating levy in Tuesday's election, the only school issue to pass among fourin Hamilton County .

Mount Healthy lost its bid for an operating levy for the second time in three months and will eliminate busing for high school students Jan. 1.

Meanwhile, voters in Three Rivers and Cincinnati school districts turned down bond issues to build new schools.

Forest Hills voters approved a 4.9-mill continuing operating levy that will bring about $5.2 million annually to this district of 7,605 students. The vote was 9,212 to 8,714.

"I just couldn't be happier," said superintendent John Patzwald. "It's just a vote of confidence for our kids and our teachers who have worked so hard."

By a vote of 4,103-2,696, Mount Healthy voters turned down a 6.95-mill continuing operating levy that would have raised $2.07 million annually. The district attempted the levy request after an 8.99-mill levy lost Aug. 6.

Dave Horine, superintendent of the 3,800-student district, attributed the loss to the economy.

"We will maintain the reductions that we've already put into place for the remainder of the year," he said. "Effective the 1st of January, we will eliminate high school transportation for students who live in Mount Healthy and attend any high school."

In Three Rivers School District, voters defeated a 5.74-mill bond issue, 3,411 to 1,658. The bond issue would have raised $31.5 million to pay for construction of a new high school, a bus garage and improvements to make all buildings handicapped accessible.

E-mail ckranz@enquirer.com