A board member briefed the Centerville City Schools Board on recent changes in Ohio's biennial budget and related policy items signed by Gov. Mike DeWine, including vetoes and provisions that could affect local school revenue and operations.
The board member who presented the legislative report said the governor signed the biennial budget on June 30 and issued several vetoes, including provisions that would have created a nonchartered educational savings account program and partisan school board elections, and that other items remained in the bill. The report named specific items by the internal numbering used in the budget language and noted the administration's partial vetoes on items related to county budget commission authority.
School leaders flagged property tax reforms in the bill that let county commissioners expand homestead and owner-occupancy property tax credits, and said the state provided no appropriation to reimburse taxing entities for the resulting revenue loss. The board was given an estimate cited from the Dayton Daily News and county auditor estimates that Montgomery County could lose roughly $32 million and schools about $18.2 million across the county; the presenting board member said Centerville Schools could lose about $3 million per year if expanded credits proceed without reimbursement.
The board member also described proposed limits in the bill on asking voters for fixed-sum emergency levies; the district currently relies on an emergency levy approved in February 2022 that generates $9.5 million a year in operating revenue and runs for 10 years. The presenter said an override of the governor's veto in the Ohio House requires Senate action to take effect and that the Senate had not yet scheduled that vote.
Why it matters: presenters said the provisions could remove tools the district uses to generate local revenue and that it could take months for details and simulations to be finalized and distributed by state agencies and local auditors.
The board member urged community members to contact state legislators while the Senate still had time to act and said a governor-appointed property tax reform working group will deliver proposals by Sept. 30. The report noted that policy changes embedded in the budget include classroom cell-phone restrictions effective January 2026, changes to the State Board of Education membership, and other curricular direction that the district will track as implementation rules are released.
Discussion vs. decision: the board received the report and asked for follow-up briefings; no formal motion or vote was recorded on these items.