YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown schools Chief Executive Officer Justin Jennings is asking the city school board to again consider placing an approximately 10-mill renewal levy on the November ballot.

The levy provides the district approximately $5.2 million a year for basic operations. The deadline to send the levy request to the Mahoning County Board of Elections is Aug. 5.

Jennings characterized the money as crucial for operating the school district and drafted a letter to the board of education urging members to act.

“While House Bill 70 grants me much authority to run the school district, the power to place a levy before voters rests solely with you, the school board. I ask that you exercise that authority,” Jennings wrote in his letter.

The move follows the board’s failure last summer to obtain a majority vote on the issue when three out of seven board of education members missed a meeting in which the matter was being addressed before the ballot deadline.

Four of the seven members who attended that August meeting deadlocked at 2-2 on the measure.

The existing levy expires at the beginning of 2021, so now the school board has even less time to seek voter approval.

Recognizing that several board members have been hostile to the law that created academic distress commissions and chief executive officer positions for struggling school districts, such as Youngstown, Jennings suggested board members put aside their differences and allow voters to decide on the renewal.

“It’s a renewal so we’re not asking for additional money,” Jennings said. “Voters have already approved this measure three times, in 2008, 2012 and 2015. They should be given the opportunity to cast their votes on the issue again in November.”

Jennings said his sole purpose is to provide maximum opportunities for students to learn.

“I don’t play politics,” he said. “I don’t think we can afford getting into battles. I can’t control what happened before I arrived here.”

Jennings said levy success is necessary for a viable school district and a viable community.

“I am not fighting,” he said. “I won’t fight. I will fight for our scholars and for our staff members.”

School board President Brenda Kimble said the board did not receive the letter about the proposed levy renewal until moments before its Tuesday board meeting.

“I have mixed reactions to it,” Kimble said. “We need to place the levy on the ballot and let the community decide. My problem is we are going to be in dire straits either way.”

Board member Ronald Shadd said the district is projected to have a budget deficit regardless of whether the renewal passes or fails. It will have a deficit of nearly $48 million in 2024 if the levy renewal is not passed. It will have a deficit of nearly $23 million if voters renew, according to the district’s five-year forecast.

“He (Jennings) offers no insight into how he will balance the budget or how he will sustain the district,” Shadd said.

The academic distress commission and the CEO model put the district on the path of financial deficits, he maintained.

“The district had a surplus of $23 million when the CEO and academic distress commission model was imposed,” Shadd said. “Voters should have a plan on how the ADC and the CEO will address the deficit that was created.”

Kimble agreed, saying Jennings should present to the board and the public his concrete plans to right-size the district.

“We need to know what they are planning to cut and what other actions they are planning to do before the levy,” Kimble said. “I feel they need to look at some of the six-figure income positions.”

During his CEO update to the public on Wednesday, Jennings noted that no decisions have been made on whether the district students will return to classes in the buildings in September, whether the district will have some kind of system of some students in buildings while others are learning online, or whether all offerings will be virtual.

Jennings emphasized that people are still contracting COVID-19 and parents need to continue following the news about its progression.

“I’m not comfortable,” Jennings admitted. “Some districts have announced they would be going online.”

Jennings would like districts in the area to come to a consensus, so parents and students will not be wondering why one district is going one way and another is handling it differently.