Jan. 16, 2019 -- The District is compiling and sharing answers to the approximately 80 questions submitted ahead of the January 9 public presentation on school funding. Twelve questions and answers are provided here, and more will be addressed periodically in the coming days.
How does our local tax rate impact the amount of money provided to CH-UH by the state? Is the amount of money we raise locally, or the millage within our district, a factor in the state calculation of how much money we receive?
Prior to the current school year, the state used a formula to determine a “state share” per student - 36%, or $2,167 of the $6,020 total per pupil state funding for CH-UH. Local total property value is a factor in this percentage calculation, not millage that has actually been passed. It should be noted that for the current biennial budget (2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years) state funding is frozen at previous 2018-2019 level.
How does the property tax collection rate in CH-UH compare to similar districts? Given (a) the relatively high poverty rate in CH-UH, (b) an increasing retirement population, and (c) an already high property tax rate -- can the residents afford an even higher tax rate?
The County estimates our current collection rate at 90%, and we receive collection of delinquent taxes as well.
Can you explain the criteria used to determine if schools are failing?
There are many criteria that go into the letter grades received by schools and districts each year from the Ohio Department of Education. School-level components include Achievement (performance on state tests), Progress (growth students are making), Gap Closing (how well schools are meeting the performance expectations for our most vulnerable students in various subjects), Graduation Rate, Improving At-Risk K-3 Readers, and Prepared for Success (how well-prepared students are for future education or training). Further explanations of components are provided by the ODE
in this document.
The CH-UH five year forecast shows a $28 million five year expense for EdChoice vouchers. What is the total amount of projected state revenue that the CH-UH school district will receive for the EdChoice vouchers? What is the net?
The forecast shows a total of $39 million in EdChoice voucher deductions ($28.5 million plus $10.5 million in new high school nonpublic EdChoice vouchers) less $15 million in state funding for these vouchers (this assumes $2,167 state share x 1,416 voucher students x 5 years), resulting in a net $24 million loss to the district over the 5 year period.
My understanding is that the state requires the district to subsidize vouchers, in other words, while the state may say that they are giving us $X per student, we are required to pay out $X+ in vouchers. This means that either we are not actually receiving $X for the students we are actually educating, or that our local real estate taxes are subsidizing vouchers. Is this correct?
This is correct.
When will the 2019 CAFR be released?It was released in December and is available to view
here.Numbers, numbers, numbers! The Board's Thursday night's powerpoint and handout indicated that the annual spending per CHUH student is $14,404. However, on the ODE Office of School Funding "District Profile" for our district for F2019 states that the per student expenditure is $21,222.14. I don't understand the difference between these two numbers. It seems like a pretty big difference in per student spending. Could you please explain the difference? ODE indicates a $21,222 spending on their “
District Profile Report”, but then goes on in their “
District Report Card” (which is the report used to designate districts as EdChoice) to adjust that calculation to $14,404 based on special education population. Recognizing the significant cost to educate students with special needs, ODE applies weights to these students based on the severity of their disability in an effort to make an “apples to apples” comparison of spending per pupil across districts.
Why won’t the district allow questions or comments at the meeting? When will the district hold a meeting to allow questions and comments from the taxpayers?We felt that collecting questions ahead of time would better inform the content of our presentation; it gave us an idea of what our stakeholders wanted to know. Board members and administrators also stayed behind after the presentation to answer questions and talk with stakeholders directly.
Addressing the Board with input from citizens is encouraged and welcomed during allotted public participation time at regular Board Meetings. Citizens may speak at the beginning of each regular meeting and limit remarks to five minutes. Upcoming meeting dates can be found
here.
Will you publish these questions with specific answers? Or will you give more general answersWe will do our best to answer each question completely and carefully. If you feel that your question was not answered in totality, please write in to
[email protected].
Does EdChoice provide vouchers for religious-based schools?Yes.
Are taxpayers being asked to fund through the levy students who use other public schools through open enrollment?
No.
Can we become an open enrollment district?
This is not an option being explored at this time.