Superintendent recommends moving fourth and fifth grades amid declining enrollment and funding uncertainty

Doctor Rice, superintendent of Ross Local School District, told the board the district is recommending a reconfiguration that would move fourth-grade students back to their elementary schools and fifth-grade students to Ross Middle School as a response to sustained enrollment declines and uncertain state funding.

Rice said development in the district is not producing new families and that elementary class sizes have fallen into the mid-150s per grade in recent years. “Simply put, development is not happening in this community, and our population is declining,” Rice told the board while describing building-by-building enrollment trends.

District finance staff presented enrollment and funding figures to support the recommendation. The treasurer’s office reported that base-cost Average Daily Membership (ADM) funding dropped from 2,767 in February 2016 to 2,239 in the most recent year, a loss of 528 funded students over 10 years. The district reported it currently receives about $1,900,000 in state “guarantee” funding; the treasurer said that figure is projected to rise to $3,900,000 next year under current calculations, and Rice said the district is watching state budget work in Columbus closely.

Rice said eliminating maintenance and staffing costs at Ross Intermediate School would produce personnel savings the district estimates at roughly $400,000 in salaries and $200,000 in benefits annually; operations savings (utilities, custodial, food service) will be tracked next year to produce a final accounting.

Rice emphasized service continuity for students with special needs. She told staff and the board that students would continue to receive required services regardless of building assignments and that the district did not anticipate initiating a reduction-in-force (RIF) for certified staff or paraprofessionals as part of the initial move.

Rice said some district offices and enrollment services (EMIS/enrollment) could move into space at RIS if the consolidation proceeds, and that the administration is exploring partnerships and possible revenue-generating uses for the RIS building. She said a concrete plan for RIS reuse is intended to be presented to the board “by the first of the year” if the board moves forward.

Rice outlined next steps for community engagement: she met with RIS staff and Ross Middle School staff and planned follow-up meetings with elementary staffs; she will hold two community town halls in early September and will return to the board with public and staff feedback at the Sept. 18 board meeting, when the board could take action.

Board members thanked Rice for the transparency and said the conversation was difficult because the community has invested in the RIS building. One board member noted that a Butler County reassessment could raise property taxes countywide and make levy passage more difficult in the near term.

No vote was taken at the meeting; the proposal remains a superintendent recommendation pending community feedback and a future board decision.