The initial impacts among some Butler County school districts saw Madison and Edgewood schools asking voters to renew tax issues in May, in part, to help offset the loss of federal funding.
The school year also included changes in leadership at Lakota Schools — the county’s biggest school system — and at Ross Schools.
And the 8,300-student Hamilton Schools conducted a rare phase-in of new leadership with Andrea Blevins, associate superintendent of the city schools, assuming more responsibilities during the 2024-2025 school year in anticipation of her taking over top job full-time from former Hamilton Superintendent Mike Holbrook who is retiring.
In one of her first public statements as superintendent, Blevins recently wrote “my vision is to make Hamilton City Schools a true destination for learning—a place where every student thrives academically, socially, and emotionally.”
“I’m guided by the Five Cs: Collaboration, Community, Culture, Consistency, and Connection—core values that shape every aspect of our work across the district. And I look forward to building strong, lasting relationships with our families, staff, and community members.”
At Middletown Schools, this school year included the district’s first re-districting of some of its 10 school buildings since 2011. The changes will affect hundreds of students and where they attend classes will begin August when the new school year begins.
Edgewood Schools saw the unexpected retirement of its superintendent – long-time Butler County school leader Kelly Spivey in April and will be starting classes in August with a new, still-to-be-determined district leader.
And Butler Tech’s career school system, which enrolls an average of 18,000 high school and adult students, saw the launching of a new aviation campus unique in its scope in the region at Middletown Regional Airport and expansion of its Bioscience Center school in West Chester Twp.
The school year also saw Butler Tech celebrate its 50th anniversary as its aggressive expansions of recent years further solidified its standing as one of Ohio’s largest and most innovative county career school systems.
The start of classes in August will also see school board election campaigns for some open seats on the five-member, governing boards of education for Butler County’s 10 public school systems with voters making their picks on new representatives in November.
And Badin High School, which is the county’s only Catholic high school, will see a major transformation of its Hamilton campus with the opening of the first, on-site sports stadium in early September.
Still unknown are the potentially significant ramifications for many local public-school systems from the state’s next biennium budget now being sorted out by the Ohio Legislature with a June 30 deadline looming.
Proposed reductions in state funding for local public schools now being considered by lawmakers could increase the number of Butler County school districts seeking to hike their local school tax revenues as compensation for cuts in state monies.
The result could be area voters will see more local school tax issues on the November election day ballot.
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