School groups warn retroactive credit in substitute HB 186 would cut hundreds of millions from districts

Summary

School administrators and business officials told the House Ways and Means Committee that the substitute for HB 186—if applied retroactively in its current form—would reduce already-budgeted school revenue by hundreds of millions, risk layoffs and credit downgrades and could trigger contract and constitutional challenges.

Chairman Romer and members of the House Ways and Means Committee heard sharply divergent testimony Thursday on substitute House Bill 186, a proposal to cap how much property-tax revenue school districts can collect after reappraisals.

Paul Imhoff, representing the Buckeye Association of School Administrators, told the committee the substitute bill’s retroactive language would amount to "a sudden retroactive cut of hundreds of millions of dollars in already collected and budgeted funds," citing Legislative Service Commission figures that "in the first year, more than half of Ohio school districts, 308 in total, will lose $226,400,000 compared to what they received today." Imhoff said those cuts could deplete carryover balances, harm credit ratings and force layoffs.

The testimony for the bill came from county officials and auditors. Summit County Commissioner Alan Harold, testifying for the County Commissioners Association of Ohio and the…

School groups warn retroactive credit in substitute HB 186 would cut hundreds of millions from districts

Summary

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