Lorain City Schools says $17.6M in cuts force repurposing, seeks 11‑mill levy on May 5

At the Feb. 26 meeting of the Lorain City Schools Board of Education, district leadership outlined a rapidly changing budget picture and urged passage of an 11‑mill levy on May 5 to avoid deeper program and staff cuts.

An agency official presenting the forecast said the district had learned over the summer and into the fall that it would lose roughly $6.7 million this year — including about $4.9 million in state funding, nearly $800,000 in federal funds and about $1 million in local funding — and that those reductions compounded into a larger, updated shortfall of about $17.6 million. "We lose 6,700,000.0 this year that we can't account for because we found out too late," the presenter said.

Why it matters: the district says it cannot absorb the reductions by efficiency alone and must both reconfigure schools and ask voters for new revenue. The presenter described a proposal to repurpose one elementary building into an all‑day preschool (estimated capacity ~350) and another into a school serving students with severe autism (capacity ~450) to reduce costly out‑of‑district placements and long transportation routes.

The presenter also described operational changes intended to produce savings: bringing transportation back in‑house (an estimated $620,000 next year), eliminating some purchased services and software subscriptions, and consolidating middle‑school electives to increase class sizes toward an operational target of 20–25 students. He said the district has already piloted schedule efficiencies at the high‑school level and expects additional savings from those changes.

On revenue, the district proposed an 11‑mill levy that it estimates would generate about $10.7 million a year. "About 7.7 mils of those levy dollars just get us through to 2030 if we do nothing different," the presenter said, adding that the remainder—about $3 million annually—could be reinvested in counselors, social workers and preschool expansion. The presenter warned that if the levy fails the district would need to find an additional $4–8 million in cuts beyond the $17.6 million it is already planning.

Board procedure and next steps: the board voted that evening on the financial forecast required by the Ohio Department of Education; the forecast is a snapshot the presenter said will be updated as new data arrive. The district said it will post the bilingual survey results and a detailed breakdown of proposed reductions online and in its next communications to the public.

The board is scheduled to consider the district's formal reduction lists and take additional action as required by state rules; the presenter said he would publish a list showing what would be restored if the levy passes and what additional cuts would occur if it fails.