ONTARIO, Ohio — The Ontario Board of Education passed a resolution regarding school funding and tangible personal property (TPP) reimbursement during their regular meeting Tuesday.
This resolution was drafted with regard to the proposed state budget (House Bill 64) that was recently passed by the Ohio House of Representatives on Wednesday, April 22.
According to the resolution, the proposed state budget will cut $1.2 million, or $634 per student, in annual reimbursement for local tangible personal property taxes that were eliminated. That $1.2 million in lost revenues, the resolution states, represents eight percent of the Ontario Local Schools’ operating budget and would require 4.5 locally voted mills to be replaced.
“The district has put in place many of the same cost-containment measures that have been successful in business, including multi-year pay freezes for all employees and benefit reductions and restrictions for all employees,” the resolution says.
With the revenue provided by the state funding formula, the state of Ohio provides less than 17 percent of the district’s operating revenues.
“The Ontario Board of Education opposes the budget proposal in its current form and calls on the Ohio General Assembly to amend the legislation to include permanent reimbursement to Ontario Local Schools for the locally levied TPP revenues eliminated in 2005 in the name of tax reform until the state funding formula is fully funded,” the resolution notes.
House Bill 64 is currently being reviewed by the Senate.
Until a final decision is made with regard to the state budget, school districts are left guessing what their budgets will look like in the future.
Treasurer Randy Harvey said drafting the five-year forecast was a challenge.
“This product that I have here is my best guess,” he said. “The legislature has no idea what they’re going to give me in the next two years, but somehow I’m supposed to know and put this in my forecast.”
He presented the forecast at the meeting, noting that when he gave the previous forecast in October, it was made with four major assumptions in mind–two of which have changed dramatically, he said.
According to the board-approved five-year forecast, in the short-term, the school’s revenue will outweigh its expenditures thanks to increased property tax collections, Harvey said. However, in the long-term, the reduction in state funds causes the ending fund balance to decrease from school year to school year. Other reasons why the balance decreases over the years is because of increases in special education costs and capital project costs.
Superintendent Lisa Carmichael hopes to continue to get the word out about the budget issue. On the school website, she encourages people to sign a petition by Friday, May 15 that urges the state to fully fund the formula. She notes, “We need our senators to know that we will never support any Tangible Personal Property Tax Hold Harmless payment plan that calls for its phase-out or for its elimination, until the formula is funded fully.”
Brad Swain, director of maintenance, gave a summer projects update, noting, “We have a ton projects going on this summer.”
The three main projects, he said, include repaving the blacktop for the north lot at the high school, the bus loop and the south lot at Stingel Elementary. Shelly and Sands Company was awarded the bid for these projects. They submitted a low bid of $280,622, which is roughly $54,000 lower than the school’s estimate, Swain said.
Finally, in her curriculum, instruction and assessment update, Director of Education Kathy Stone shared that Stingel Elementary earned an A on the kindergarten – third grade literacy component. “We were one of just 27 schools in Ohio that received an A,” she said.
According to data released this year, she said, “At the kindergarten level, we had eight percent of the students that came in that were below grade level, in first grade 11 percent, in second grade 21 percent, in third grade I’m a little concerned about because 29 percent of the students, or 45 students were below grade level at the beginning of the year.
“But I will also tell you we’re intervening in a lot of ways,” she added.
To help improve those statistics, she said she’d like to look at how they can help low-income students who don’t have access to books over the summer, saying, “Often they don’t read books [over the summer] because they don’t have access to them, and they will lose at least two months of their reading level…so I’d like to get creative with our Title 1 monies…put some money into some books maybe that we can put into some of these homes.
“I’m also considering looking at a part-time person that would work with some of the low-income students.”
She further noted that she would like to continue with Title 1 tutoring and increase that if possible.
“This product that I have here is my best guess,” he said. “The legislature has no idea what they’re going to give me in the next two years, but somehow I’m supposed to know and put this in my forecast,” said Treasurer Randy Harvey.
