Stow-Munroe Falls board member urges full state school funding as vouchers and new cash rules loom

Miss Siodonik, a member of the Stow-Munroe Falls City School District Board of Education, told the board on April 14 that she recently went to the Statehouse to urge lawmakers to fully fund the fair school funding plan and to protect local taxpayers from bearing additional burdens.

She said the Ohio legislature is finalizing a budget and that the state share of school funding has declined over time, increasing pressure on local levies. She highlighted what she described as funding disparities between public school foundation aid and state-funded vouchers for private schools and said those choices will determine whether districts must seek more local revenue.

The testimony focused on three state-level developments the speaker said could affect the district's finances: reductions in the planning horizon used in state forecasts from five years to three years; the expansion and levels of state vouchers for private schools; and House Bill 96 provisions that would let county budget commissions review districts' cash carryover balances and, if a district holds more than a set…