The school district is currently borrowing $2.2 million from the state and is under control by the state-appointed Fiscal Planning and Supervision Commission.
Passage gives the Financial Planning and Supervision Commission the money it needs to get the district out of financial difficulty, according to interim superintendent Phil Cagwin.
“One of the key steps of the commission’s recovery plan was the passage of this levy,” Cagwin said. “So we will follow that recovery plan as it’s already been approved. This is really the first key step to getting us on the path to be removed from fiscal emergency.”
Saddled with an operating deficit of $2.2 million, plus a bond retirement debt of $3.1 million, Monroe Schools was placed in fiscal emergency in may and fell under state control in May. Passage of Issue 16 gives the district enough money to sustain operations and end state control.
The levy will generate $2.5 million per year for the school district over the next five years. The owner of a $100,000 home will pay an extra $215.91 in taxes annually, according to the Butler County Auditor’s Office.
According to the school board, the bond retirement debt funds were moved by the school’s former treasurer, Kelley Thorpe, without the board’s approval.
The Financial Planning and Supervision Commission had hinted at sending the district into state minimum standards if Issue 16 did not pass.
That would have cut busing, all extra curricular activities and athletics and many elective class offerings from the school.
“We feel pretty confident that those numbers are going to hold, but it wouldn’t have happened without the members of the Monroe Levy Committee,” Cagwin said. “Those parents put so much into the passage of this issue, I don’t believe there is any possible way the issue would’ve passed without their efforts.”
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