CPS faces mounting pressure over income tax proposal

Catch up quick: The Board of Education voted 5-2 last week to pursue a 0.75% earned-income tax instead of a traditional property tax levy.

• Board Vice President Kareem Moffett said she backed the proposal to spare homeowners another property tax increase.
• "I don't want to hit property owners," Moffett said during last week's school board meeting. "But I know we need a levy."

The other side: Board member Eve Bolton opposed the "ill-advised action" and believes the board will rescind it. There's a meeting agenda item to do just that.

• "I voted against it because it asks too much from too many at this time," Bolton tells Axios. "The supporters of this proposal did not do the necessary legwork and engagement with the many villages and cities and townships within our district as to the impact an earned-income tax would have on their community."

The proposal also drew criticism from both Hamilton County political parties.

• Republican chair Josh Gerth called the tax "offensive" in a statement, saying "there are a lot of problems in the city's schools - the size of their budget is certainly not one of them."
• The Democratic Party recognizes the district's financial challenges, chair Alex Linser tells Axios, but similarly opposes a new income tax.
• The party voted overwhelmingly to ask the school board to reconsider the tax, which Bolton called an unprecedented move.