The Olentangy Board of Education is sending a unified message to the six members of the House-Senate conference committee currently considering the state budget. The letters, signed by all five board members, urge lawmakers to reconsider plans to cut the district’s expected funding by as much as $4.6 million during the 2009-10 school year and an additional $8 million during the 2010-11 school year.
The letters explain Olentangy’s unique situation of being the fastest-growing school district in the state for the last six years. Projections by the district’s Development Committee indicate this growth rate will continue with Olentangy gaining approximately 2,000 additional students during next two school years. In order to offset the financial hardships associated with this extreme growth, board members strongly urge lawmakers to add the following provision to the budget bill: Any school district experiencing an enrollment growth rate from one year to the next greater than 2.5%, with a minimum of 200 additional students, shall receive an additional amount of State aid for each additional student in excess of 200 equal to the annual per pupil State aid provided to chartered non-public schools.
“Olentangy is a district that’s doing all the right things,” said Board President Julie Wagner Feasel. “Test scores continue to improve even while the district is growing by approximately 1,000 students each year. Our per-pupil cost continues to be one of the lowest in central Ohio and within our peer group statewide. And, most importantly, our residents continue to support our schools. We are just asking for the state to consider our unique growth in its funding.”
In the letters to lawmakers, board members also voice their support for Section 3306.192 of the House bill, which guarantees that no public school district will receive less per-pupil state funding than that provided to chartered non-public schools, and the Senate bill provision that permanently replaces tangible personal property tax payments to school districts.