Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Funding topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Stow-Munroe Falls board member urges full state school funding as vouchers and new cash rules loom
Summary
Board member Miss Siodonik reported on recent advocacy at the Statehouse, warning that voucher expansion and House Bill 96 provisions on cash carryovers could shift costs to local taxpayers; district projections show enrollment declines and modest state funding increases that may not keep pace with rising costs.
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 threshold, reduce collections the following year.
Miss Siodonik said the district currently receives a relatively small state share per pupil and warned that voucher payments can far exceed typical foundation aid. She said the district receives about $2,700 per pupil from the state (as reported in her testimony) while state voucher amounts can reach up to $6,000 for K–8 students and up to $8,400 for grades 9–12 depending on family income. She told the board that about 480 resident students were reported on vouchers in fiscal 2024, and that voucher payments at those maximums would total tens of millions of dollars statewide under certain simulations she showed the board.
Board Treasurer Gallano and Miss Siodonik reviewed data from the state's CUP (Costing Using Performance) report and the district's five-year simulations. The presenter said the district has seen a decline in average daily membership (ADM) of about 5% from fiscal 2022 to fiscal 2025 and about 6.1% from 2023 to 2026 in the material she showed. For the district's foundation aid she cited figures of about $15,000,000 in fiscal 2025 and roughly $15.1 million in fiscal 2026 in the simulation, and said the district would see modest additional state dollars in later years in some scenarios but that the increases did not match cost growth.
On House Bill 96, the board was told the House-passed language would require districts to submit multiyear revenue and expenditure projections to county budget commissions and would let counties reduce a district's millage or collections if the commission determines a district's cash carryover exceeds the permitted percentage. Miss Siodonik said the percentage in the bill moved from 25% in an earlier draft to 30% after testimony by treasurers and others, and she relayed concerns shared at the Statehouse that a forced reduction in carryover could create cash-flow pressures and push districts to borrow or to spend down reserves in ways that might not support long-term planning.
Miss Siodonik said the district's current cash carryover was roughly 12% (about $8 million, described in the presentation as 12.2% of expenditures) and that the district would not be immediately affected by a 30% threshold; she warned, however, that many districts statewide could be affected and that the policy could influence bond ratings and borrowing costs.
Board members and staff discussed how the CUP report and the state's forecasting horizon are used for levy planning and fiscal oversight. Treasurer Gallano and Miss Siodonik recommended continuing advocacy; Miss Siodonik said she had already submitted the board's fair school funding resolution to the House and planned to send it to the Senate.
Miss Siodonik encouraged community members and board members to contact legislators while the bill moves through the Senate and to take part in advocacy around base-cost updates and the state share. She also suggested that districts continue to prepare five-year forecasts even if the state requires only a three-year projection.
The board did not take a formal vote on any state-level legislation at the April 14 meeting. The discussion was informational and intended to inform the board and the public about potential fiscal impacts of pending state actions.
