The Canal Winchester School Board heard an overview of the district's tax budget and financial forecast during its Jan. 12 meeting.

Treasurer Mister Roberts said the new statewide tax-budget process requires districts to present the current year, two prior years and an estimate for tax year 2027. He told the board the budget commission will likely ask about an itemized funds total that appears as 27,300,000 and that he added explanatory notes "so the budget commission will know why we have funds in the o 70 like we do."

Roberts reviewed near-term forecast impacts tied to recently enacted state legislation. He said the changes signed by the governor take effect across the settlement schedule and will not affect the first tax settlement but will appear in second-settlement calculations in July and August. "Nothing is going to be impacted on the first settlement," Roberts said. "Will be the second settlement, so we won't see the impact until July, August when those second tax bills are paid and issued."

Roberts presented preliminary numbers and trends. He said year-over-year revenues were down about $780,000, primarily because of an adjustment to economically disadvantaged funding in the state formula, and that "all revenues are down 600,000" with e-rate timing and one large virtual-property adjustment cited as contributors. He reported a general-fund balance of roughly $41,600,000 and total cash balances across funds of more than $80,000,000, while noting some property-value inputs from neighboring counties were still pending and could affect future forecasts. "We're still waiting on a lot of information to come in," he said.

Board members asked about posting the tax-budget materials online; Roberts said he will post the signed, updated version to the district website after approval. He also described moving contract-approval thresholds to follow the statutory legal bid threshold rather than a fixed dollar amount and noted the district is planning capital financing for projects including a performing-arts center and athletic facilities.

Next steps: the treasurer said the board will receive a more detailed forecast update next month and that the district will continue evaluating options, including potential levies or spending reductions to address longer-term impacts.