By Cindy Kranz
The Cincinnati Enquirer

MOUNT HEALTHY - Dave Horine is one happy school superintendent.

On Wednesday, the Mount Healthy City Schools leader's voicemail message trumpeted the news:

"If you haven't heard, yes, we did pass our levy yesterday," Horine said, continuing to thank everyone who worked on the levy campaign.

After four unsuccessful attempts to pass an operating levy in a little over a year, the Mount Healthy City Schools succeeded Tuesday night on its fifth try.

"Maybe the difficult road makes the win that much better," Horine told his staff in an e-mail.

Stakes were high in Tuesday's race. The district, facing a $1.7 million deficit next school year, had discussed cutting athletics and extracurriculars, and closing an elementary school if the levy lost.

"I'm just happy for the kids in our district, that they're not going to have to face some of the reductions we were considering," Horine said.

A number of factors helped influence the election - approved 52 to 48 percent - in the 3,800-student district.

"People got the message that we were in extremely dire circumstances, financially," Horine said. "The fact our staff did not get salary increases - people were feeling the financial reductions."

Increased media coverage generated sympathy and discussion both inside and outside the district, he said.

"We had a lot of encouraging comments from people. I know we were on a number of churches' prayer chains."

Improvements in the economy, good Election Day weather and more focused voter registration and turnout efforts also helped, he said. Before this latest round of voter registration, only 47 percent of the Mount Healthy parents were registered. The registration drive boosted that to 62 percent.

The levy will raise $2.2 million for the district annually. The owner of a $70,000 home will pay an additional $149 a year; the owner of a $100,000 home will pay $213.

Even with the win, it doesn't mean everything will be restored.

"We will not be able to put (high school) busing back for the remainder of this year," Horine said. "We've been upfront about that. We will be taking it into consideration for next year."

Double duty

Other superintendents who celebrated Tuesday's election results included Carroll Roberts. The superintendent of St. Bernard-Elmwood Place City Schools won a seat on the Southwest Local School District board.

He placed second in a field of four candidates for three seats, and as a result, inherits two sets of school board meetings to attend.

"A lot of people are saying, 'Are you nuts?' " Roberts said, but he's looking forward to the learning experience.

"I think I'm going to get a new angle and a new sense of respect for the role of a board member."

E-mail ckranz@enquirer.com