The Switzerland Of Ohio Local School District is already working on a plan should an emergency operations levy fail in May – but the backup plan might not be very popular with residents.

Administrators said if the levy passes, it would generate about $2.5 million. They said the funds generated by the levy will also allow for some positive additions and they want to use levy dollars to add resource officers to each of the district's campuses.

But if the levy doesn’t pass, Superintendent Larry Elliot told NEWS9 on Tuesday that cuts would include 23 teaching positions, the closure of a bus garage and sports programs could have to be self-sufficient.

The school board recently passed a motion to sign a mineral rights lease agreement with Eclipse Resources. The lease agreement is for 80 acres surrounding the Swiss Hills Career Center and helps generate about $500,000, but officials said it's not enough to help the struggling district.

"We are a district in fiscal caution and I believe those monies are already earmarked for expenses we have coming up. So it will help (but) it's not going to get us out of the woods,” Elliott said.

Administrators said May's levy will be an emergency levy that will "address the operational deficit" as well as supply funding that would have been gained if November's permanent improvement levy passed.

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