The hard reality is that Cleveland, with its 41,000 students, has a weak tax base compared with most suburbs, giving it less “bang” per mill.

For the past 20 years at least, all too many Cleveland residents and suburbanites alike have done little more than take pot shots at the Cleveland Municipal School District for low academic scores among students.

And then, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson decided to do something about the constant griping and complaining.

He went to Columbus with a bold plan to revitalize the school district that he is in control of.

It was a bold plan that required the consensus of the Cleveland Teachers Union, school administrators, political leaders and the community at large.

That consensus came about, and the Ohio General Assembly voted earlier this month to enact sweeping legislation designed to revamp the once vaunted school district, and return it to its glory days of producing academic achievers.

But the legislation signed into law was just the beginning of Jackson’s bold plan.

The other part was to bring it to fruition. Cleveland homeowners will have to approve an operating levy to provide the district with much needed cash to implement the bold plan.

Next November’s school levy will ask homeowners to approve a 15-mill levy – the first since 1996. It would give the district an estimated $77-million a year to add to its $670-million operating budget and a $1.1-billion total budget.

The average Cleveland homeowner would see about a $300 a year increase in their property tax.

The hard reality is that Cleveland, with its 41,000 students, has a weak tax base compared with most suburbs, giving it less “bang” per mill.

That’s just the way that it is.

For example, to raise a similar amount, Beachwood would only need a 3.1-mill tax or Mayfield a 4.3-mill tax.

So while what the Cleveland school district is asking for seems like a lot, in the grand scheme we’d like to see it as an investment in our children’s future