“A big focus next year will be advocacy in the next (state) budget cycle to ensure state funding to maintain the district’s revenues,” Stacy said.
By fiscal year 2026, the district is projecting a one-year deficit of more than $2.2 million, and she said the district would have to reduce expenses by 3.35% in order to balance the budget without additional revenues.
The Ohio Department of Education has called the five-year forecast system “as much of an art as it is a science,” and school districts are sometimes gloomy in their projections. In the forecast filed three years ago, Springboro projected it would be in deficit spending for both 2020-21 and 2021-22, for a combined $4.1 million loss. The current forecast shows they eventually finished in the black both of those years, with a combined fund balance gain of $1.5 million.
The district’s expenses did increase about 3% annually over the past five years. They are projected to increase by 4.32% annually through fiscal year 2027, according to the forecast. In addition to inflation, the district has seen increases in personnel costs and purchased services ranging from fuel for its buses, health insurance, future labor negotiations, and property/fleet insurance.
“Costs are growing, and revenues are not keeping up,” Stacy said. “Springboro has few areas to make cuts and not impact the education of students.”
According to the forecast, the district should be about $1.8 million in the black for this school year (fiscal year 2023). The district started the year with a $12.1 million carryover — about 20% of a year’s spending, which is within normal ranges around Ohio.
Springboro estimated about $62 million in revenues and $60.2 million in expenses. It expects end the year with a carryover of $13.9 million to start fiscal year 2024.
Broken down, Stacy said the district’s revenues come primarily from property taxes (53%); public utility taxes (11%); and state funds (33%).
“We’re not in financial distress,” Stacy said. “We’re stable and we have reserves to get through the next few years. However, the district is facing financial challenges in the coming years.”
In this fiscal year 2023, which runs from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023, the Springboro Schools will spend $8,907 per student, which includes $420 in federal funding, Stacy said.
According to the Ohio Department of Education’s District Profile Reports, Springboro’s expenditure per pupil is among the 10 lowest in the state, out of more than 600 districts, more than $3,000 below the state median.
Economically disadvantaged communities get more state and federal funding. Springboro receives less because only 8% of the district’s students are economically disadvantaged, and Springboro ranks in the top 6% of the state’s school districts by income, according to the District Profile Reports.
Not included in the latest five-year forecast is more than $584,000 in revenue that has been paid annually by the Rockies Express Pipeline. The company is appealing the amount in court. Stacy said if the appeal is denied by the court, those revenues will improve the district’s cash balances in each of the five years, and reduce the deficit spending.
She said it is unknown when the appeal will be decided, but Springboro and other affected districts such as Monroe, Wayne Local, Middletown, and Lebanon affected have started advocacy efforts as to why this money is so vital to the community, students, and staff.
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