Voters approved operating levy requests Tuesday for Southland Public School, Hayfield Community Schools and LeRoy-Ostrander Public School.

By voting yes, the LeRoy-Ostrander voters extended its $1,578.63 per pupil operating levy for another 10 years. The vote was 254 to approve and 31 to deny.

“For both districts, I’m elated,” LeRoy-Ostrander and Southland Superintendent Jeff Sampson said about the votes. “It’s a good thing for both districts, and we’re very thankful for the support from the community.”

The levy is set for 10 years, and Sampson hopes it won’t have to change for that long. He said it depends on state funding for schools, but the levy should be set for 10 years.

“You can never tell with school funding these days,” he said.

The plan is to continue programming and staffing as usual.

“We’re going to keep our current programming and staffing stable as of the vote,” he said.

Southland renewed an operating levy that was dropped four to five years ago. With the vote, Southland revoked a smaller operating levy it currently has to replace it with the operating levy that will raise funding from $387.44 per pupil to $1,550 per pupil for the next 10 years. The vote was 684 yes votes to 304 no votes.

“I’m very excited about that,” Sampson said. “Especially since we don’t have to make any more cuts for the foreseeable future.”

He said it will again depend on state funding, which is unreliable at times, but the plan does not include any more cuts because of the yes vote. This operating levy is also set for 10 years, and will help the school maintain current programming and staffing.

“It’s similar to LeRoy in the fact that we needed the money to maintain what we currently have,” Sampson said.

Administrators do not plan to add anything back that was previously cut, since that would require additional funding, but plan to simply maintain current levels.

Sampson said the voter turnout was good.

“I was very happy with the voter turnout in both districts,” he said. “… I’m very happy with the support in both districts.”

Hayfield approved a $851.78 per pupil levy for five years, a $300 increase that Superintendent Belinda Selfors said will generate $230,000 in revenue for the district to maintain programs.

“We’re thrilled,” Selfors said.

“This is a vote for our children, and we’re thankful that the voters gave us their support to move ahead with our programming and our staffing,” she added.

Other administrators were also excited about the vote.

“Our school district and our students are the winners today,” School Board Chairman Christopher Ebling said in a press release on Facebook. “This is a vote for the children of our communities. We thank the voters of our school district for their support.”

About 389 people voted to approve the levy, while 297 opposed it. Selfors said the revenue will be used to continue programming and staffing levels.

“We recognize and appreciate the confidence of our voters,” she said. “We are thrilled to have their support.”

—Jason Schoonover contributed to this report.