Superintendent Jason Enix said Huber Heights City Schools are projecting deficit spending beginning this school year and increasing in years to come. That’s according to the district’s five-year forecast submitted in November — a state-mandated financial document that tracks and predicts spending and revenue in a school district.
“We are now back on the ballot for all the reasons that have been shared previously: that our five-year forecast shows deficit spending and the implications to that for the cash balance in the long term is something that will be a detriment to the district financials,” Enix said.
The state department of education has previously recommended that schools keep 30 to 60 days of cash on hand to cover any unexpected expenses. Most schools keep more than that, and Huber Heights has a policy of keeping four months of cash on hand.
But as of this school year, Huber Heights had one of the most robust cash balances in the area. The district had 84% of a year’s spending in the bank last summer, a Dayton Daily News analysis found. The district’s leaders say the high cash balance is a response to financial difficulties from the early 2010s that led to significant cuts.
While property taxes have increased in Huber Heights, the school district’s revenue has not changed significantly in recent years because of an Ohio law that largely prevents tax levy proceeds from increasing when property values increase, Enix said. The Huber school district’s annual revenue has been generally steady around $71 million per year since 2018.
Enix said there are also more students with high needs in Huber Heights now, which means the district will hire more staff as they are legally required to offer extra support.
“What we are seeing is a much more significant uptick in students with special needs, students that have English as not their first language and those subsets of students have a higher amount of needs,” Enix said.
Huber Heights voters overwhelmingly rejected an even larger school levy request (8.12 mills) in May 2023, by a 67-33 ratio.
The school board has identified $7.3 million in cuts that could be made if the May 6 levy does not pass, rather than spend down some of the accumulated cash balance first.
Those cuts, which were approved by the board in February, include:
- Central office administration cuts including the assistant treasurer, technology department administrator, school psychologist, curriculum supervisor, public relations supervisor/superintendent administrative assistant, administrative assistant in operations, administrative assistant in human resource and administrative assistant in student services.
- Five elementary school principals and one junior high assistant principal would be cut from building administrator positions.
- Several educator positions would be terminated, including 10 elementary teachers, four junior high teachers, six high school teachers, the Wayne High School dean of students and the dean of Warrior Academies, the district’s alternative school. A new staff hire would be cut, along with one Wayne High School guidance counselor.
- Pay-to-play fees would increase to $750 with no family cap.
- Preschool tuition would increase to $3,000 per year, or $375 per month
- The district would decrease department budgets by 10%, decrease building budgets by 10%, eliminate release time for staff development to reduce substitute costs, eliminate holding a gifted education program in a separate building, move a bus purchase to the permanent improvement fund instead of the general fund, increase school and course fees by 20%, eliminate facility use rentals, cut two custodial staff on the second shift, one maintenance person, one school resource officer and decrease a security officer contract.
- Other cuts to staff would include two technology paraprofessional staff, instructional support personnel, classroom support personnel, restorative practice personnel at the junior high and high school and all five elementary librarians.
Selena Crace, the leader of the committee to pass the school levy, said as a former educator in Huber Heights, the levy is needed to continue educating the community’s kids.
“The bottom line is that we need parents to pass this levy,” Crace said. “The impact of this is so far reaching.”
Some residents in the city have opposed the tax levy due to financial constraints, both on social media and in private interactions with school officials described to this news organization. Some argued that with higher prices for groceries and basic goods, they cannot afford a hike in property taxes.
According to the Ohio School Boards Association, roughly half of the school levies on the ballot last November failed.
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