CANFIELD — A $33 million allocation in the Ohio House version of the state budget to fund a new Canfield middle school was axed from the final version of the funding bill.

State Rep. Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, and a Canfield schools graduate, got the money included as an amendment to the House version.

But he said: “The Senate killed it. They were unwilling to put it in the budget. The House was pushing hard for me, but the Senate wasn’t looking to budge. A lot of earmarks didn’t make it in.”

The $33 million for a new middle school would have been a huge boost to the Canfield district that is moving ahead with a $104.95 million plan for school facilities improvements.

The Canfield school board will seek a bond issue to finance new buildings and renovations. The board is expected to vote Wednesday to put the bond issue on the Nov. 8 ballot. At its June 14 meeting, the board voted to declare the necessity of issuing the school bond.

Cutrona said he was “extremely disappointed” the Senate took out the $33 million earmark for the school. “It’s unfortunate they didn’t want to fund it. You win some, you lose some. You go back to the drawing board for some more creative ideas.”

Cutrona said this fall the House and the Senate each will have $350 million in general revenue dollars for projects, and he will work to get the Canfield school district some or all of the $33 million he had included in the state budget for the middle school.

Superintendent Joe Kroll and Renee English, the district’s spokeswoman, couldn’t be reached Friday to comment on the removal of the $33 million for the middle school from the state budget.

Voters overwhelmingly rejected a 6.9-mill, 37-year bond proposal on the May 2022 ballot for a $107.8 million project that included a new pre-kindergarten to eighth-grade campus and renovations to the high school.

Shortly after that, the district started considering other options and a volunteer committee met and made recommendations.

Three options were considered ranging in estimated cost from about $91 million to $105 million.

The committee is recommending the $105 million option with the school board agreeing.

The plan includes building a new K-4 elementary school at the Hilltop school site, a new grades 5-8 middle school at the Canfield Village Middle School site, renovations to the high school and the abatement of the C.H. Campbell building.

The school board offices would also be moved to the former Hilltop school building and a second gym would be built at the middle school after the move.

The middle school is more than 100 years old.

Dave Wilkeson, a Canfield school board member, said last month that if the district waits 10 years for the improvements, the cost would increase to $140 million. It would cost about $200 million if the board waited 20 years, he said.