Cleveland, Ohio-Organized by The Imperial Coalition, a group of over 20 Cleveland area grassroots organizations, a debate was recently held at Lil Africa on the proposed 15 mill tax levy for the Cleveland Municipal School District, which is on the November 6 ballot.

At the recently held debate, leaders of the activist groups putting on the event, including The Imperial Women Coalition, voted 29 to 12 against the levy.

Debating for the levy was Cleveland Ward 8 Councilman Jeff Johnson (pictured in gold tie), and against it were Cleveland 2013 Mayoral Candidate and Community Activist Donna Brown (pictured in white blouse), and Kimberly Brown (pictured in grey suit jacket), a social worker, author and community advocate.

State Rep. Bill Patmon (D-10) )(pictured in red tie) served as the moderator while Frances Caldwell (volunteer director of the African American History Museum , a Ward 8 precinct committee member, and member of the Imperial Women), Debbie Kline (executive director of Cleveland Jobs With Justice and a member of the Imperial Women), Roz McAllister (running for Ward 12 council seat, leads Ohio Family rights, and is a member of the Imperial Women) and Dr. Eugene Jordan (local dentist, member of the grassroots organization The Underground Railroad, and 2^nd vice president of the Cleveland NAACP) were the debate panelists.

Among grassroots factions and other community affiliates in attendance were councilpersons Zach Reed (Ward 2), T.J. Dow (Ward 7), Kevin Conwell (Ward 9) and Mamie Mitchell (Ward 6), all of whom spoke at the community gathering.

State Rep. John Barnes Jr. (D-12), a Cleveland Democrat, was also there.

Former Cleveland School Board Member Genevieve Mitchell outlined the struggle of Black students in Cleveland schools from desegregation to mayoral control and Community Activist Ernest Smith, who leads the oppressed People's Nation, spoke of the plight of Black boys and teens in a racist society that routinely stigmatizes them.

If the tax levy passes it would cost the owner of a $64,000 home $294 a year, and  would be applicable for the next four years with voters them getting a chance to decide whether to renew it. It would generate $65 million in revenue for Cleveland schools, a hefty sum by most standards.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and schools CEO Eric Gordon were not in attendance, though both were invited to debate on the controversial issue of public concern.

Some of the grassroots organizations represented at the debate were The People’s Forum, The Imperial Women, Peace in the Hood, Black on Black Crime, The Oppressed People’s Nation, The Cleveland African-American Museum, The Northeast Ohio Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, Ohio Family Rights, People for Parental Equality, Cleveland Jobs With Justice, Stop Targeting Ohio’s Poor, The Joaquin Hicks Real People’s Movement, The Carl Stokes Brigade, Organize Ohio, The Underground Railroad, The Movement and the Save John Marshall Campaign. (Editor's Note: Neither the Imperial Women nor the Imperial Women Coalition has endorsed Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's education plan as falsely reported in an article last week in the Call and Post Newspaper. Community activists, however, still support the Call and Post, Ohio's Black press).

Kimberly Brown’s stance on the levy is that the Ohio State Legislature must find a way to properly fund schools and that the levy is an attack on Cleveland homeowners.  She argues that levies do not guarantee a return on the investment and that there has to be transparency of how the funds are spent.

“At this point, I must say no,"  said Kimberly Brown, who is of no relation to Donna Walker Brown.

Donna Walker Brown vehemently argued that money has been misappropriated and that the Cleveland Board of Education, appointed by Mayor Jackson under a state law that gives the city mayor control of the largely Black school district,  should be elected as it once was.

Councilman Johnson, a licensed attorney and former Ohio state senator argued that the state legislature’s unconstitutional school funding formula, which the Ohio Supreme Court has deemed unconstitutional on three occasions since 1992 pursuant to the case of DeRolph vs. State of Ohio, should be fixed.

But Johnson said that kids must come first and that as long as property taxes are the vehicle for educating Cleveland children, he supports it.

“I support the levy," said Johnson.

During intermission at the debate activists called for the Ohio State Legislature to be held in contempt of its order to fix its unconstitutional funding formula and Rep. Patmon said that he would introduce a bill seeking its revision to help poor kids in Ohio get their fare share.

Also on hand were a group of activists led by Santinder P. S. Puri, who has lodged a crusade to keep John Marshall High School, a west side school, open, though a new high school is currently under construction.

Whitney Young High School student Xavier Thomas-Hughes asked who came up with the decision to seek a schools levy that is '$15 million' and Johnson explained that the 15-mill figure does not mean $15 million.

Donna Walker Brown stated that another reason that she opposes the levy is because she believes that there is no accountability.  She said that it's nothing more than “the same crooks, and a different levy.”

Donna Walker Brown urged Cleveland voters to be aware of House Bill 269, the state law that handed control of Cleveland schools to the mayor, and took effect in 1998 when then Federal District Court Judge George White, who has since died, released the State of Ohio and the school district from the desegregation court order.

Such release came about after Judge White granted unitary status to the state and the school district, and ruled that the disparities between Black students and their White counterparts are due to socioeconomic factors, and not because the vestiges of racial discrimination had not been remedied to the extent practicable as required by the desegregation court order.