State legislators, however, have argued that schools that keep large amounts of cash on hand are asking for too much money from taxpayers.
Usually, rather than many local superintendents traveling to Columbus, it’s more common for the public school lobbying arms, the Ohio Association of School Business Officials, the Ohio School Boards Association and the Buckeye Association of School Administrators, to testify on behalf of schools on important bills like the budget bill. However, school officials say the proposed changes would be detrimental to school budgets and feel they need to testify themselves.
Those public school lobbying organizations have also testified on multiple occasions, particularly on the 30% cap.
“Let me be clear: Our superintendents fully support property tax relief done in a responsible manner, but this provision is neither responsible nor tax relief,” BASA President Paul Imhoff said on May 7. “This provision will result in a tax cut today and a tax increase tomorrow.”
Several local superintendents, including Oakwood’s Neil Gupta, Northmont’s Tony Thomas, Beavercreek’s Paul Otten, Fairfield’s Billy Smith, and Clark-Shawnee’s Brian Kuhn have testified about the 30% cash balance cap. School treasurers from Clark-Shawnee and Northmont have also testified.
Additionally, some local school board members have weighed in, including two board members from Yellow Springs, Amy Bailey and Dorothée Bouquet, and Northridge board of education vice president Tina Fiore.
“By imposing a 30 percent cash-balance cap, it triggers automatic tax rollbacks whenever district reserves exceed an arbitrary limit — regardless of revenue volatility — penalizing fiscal responsibility rather than curbing waste,” said Bob Hill, superintendent of Springfield City Schools.
Another worry for some local superintendents is the current way the state budget has been funding the Fair School Funding Act. Some public school officials argue the act, which was signed in 2021, is not being fully funded as promised under the current budget plan.
Students from two Dayton Public Schools buildings, Meadowdale Career Technology Center and Belmont High School, submitted testimony on issues that impact youth and school funding.
Meadowdale Career Tech students asked for more funding for public schools to offer driving classes, programs addressing domestic violence, youth employment, mental health, access to hospitals, safe school buses, driver’s education funding, drug addiction, affordable housing and homeless shelters.
The Belmont students said cuts to school funding could impact non-native English speakers, Advanced Placement (AP) classes, teacher workforce reductions, busing, sports, mental health, free breakfast and lunch, and extracurricular programs.
Liam Greaney, a junior from Belmont High School, said the recent death of a Dayton Public Schools student at the downtown RTA bus hub has threatened his and other students’ access to public transportation.
“When we fail to invest in transportation, we are denying our children equal access to education and putting them at a disadvantage,” Greaney said.
The Ohio House of Representatives already approved their version of the state budget for 2025-27. The Ohio Senate is holding hearings now, and once they approve a version, the two chambers of the legislature will meet to hash out their differences and produce a final version. Governor Mike DeWine will sign that full document, but he usually vetoes some passages.
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