Understanding School Funding Changes

To Our Vikings Community,

Understanding School Funding Changes

The House budget proposal makes significant changes to Ohio's school funding plan. Here's what this means:

What's Changing

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled in 1997 in DeRolph v. State that the way the state funds schools is unconstitutional, relying too heavily on property taxes
The Fair School Funding Plan that started in July 2021 was meant to correct that, but that plan that was meant to be fair and give additional support to local districts so they could rely less on property taxes is now being dismantled
The Cupp-Patterson Fair School Funding Plan had taken years of research to develop and had support from both Republicans and Democrats, as well as school leaders
The plan calculated the cost to educate students and shared between the state and the district’s local capacity to cover those costs
Under House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima), the state spent roughly $ 1 billion in public money to send kids to nonpublic schools that do not have to adhere to an audit or state testing

The New Proposal

Appears to keep the formula, but it prevents the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce under the standard public school funding system and creates a “new temporary foundation funding” that cannot fall below Fiscal Year 2025 funding levels
Funding cannot go below 2025 levels
This will shift funding from the state to local property taxpayers
The proposed budget increases the private school voucher system by $500 million, but gives $220 million to public schools

New Rules on Cash Balances

The House verison of the budget proposal restricts carryover cash balances
County Auditors must reduce property tax collection if cash balances exceed a designated percentage.
Counties, cities, and townships don't have these same limits placed on cash balances, and they also collect property taxes
Princeton’s cash balance did increase after passing the levy in November 2019 and during the pandemic when ESSER funding was received. Now, the expense growth exceeds the revenue growth, causing the cash balance to decrease. This is the way levy cycles work. To prevent this, districts will need to ask local taxpayers for less millage but more frequently.

Why This Matters

These changes take away decision-making power from local elected officials
Local taxpayers will have less say in how money is saved and spent

We need your voice!

For the past four years, Ohio school leaders have worked to improve funding for public schools through the Fair School Funding Plan—a formula designed to ensure districts receive the funding they need based on what students actually require, not just what is available.

Ohio legislators in the House Finance Committee have accepted a substitute version of HB96, modifying the Governor's version. This version is not better for public schools, even though you see some increases for some schools. They are not continuing the fair school funding phase, and they are not updating the base costs. Princeton City Schools and all Ohio public schools will not receive the full and fair funding they deserve.

The cost calculations in the formula are based on 2022 figures, which do not reflect today’s higher costs.

Legislators are also focusing on our cash balances. The data they used was incorrect information in their system for 29 school districts. All school districts that filed an updated forecast after November were impacted. Princeton City Schools filed a new forecast in February. The state system doubled our cash balance. Our correct cash balance at the end of the Fiscal Year 2024 is $47,858,538, not the amount shown in the state's data of $95,717,076! When you contact legislators, this must be communicated. This is even worse for Princeton since we are on the ballot, and the incorrect data makes it look like we have an excessive cash balance.

How You Can Help

We need to reach out to legislators now and remind them that the fair school funding formula was developed over years of research based on what it actually costs to educate students. We need to continue the final 2 years of the phase in and have the base costs updated.

Legislators need to hear from parents, staff, and community members like you about why public school funding matters. A simple, personal letter can make a big difference.

Here’s an easy way to structure your message:

Share your story – Why is Princeton City Schools important to you and your child?
Make your request – Ask legislators to fully phase in the Fair School Funding Plan and update cost calculations.
Thank them – Show appreciation for their attention and support.