“I think it’s very important that the conversation doesn’t just happen in this room,” she said Thursday at the Hamilton High School auditorium.
Hamilton has around 8,200 students, and has an general fund budget of $124.65 million. Most of the money, 83%, is invested in staff and teachers, which Blevins said, “The best resources we can have is the people that work in our schools, that work with our students, drive our buses and keep our crosswalks safe.”
Overall, Hamilton spends on average $15,000 to educate each student, which is $1,000 below the state average and $5,000 below similar Ohio districts.
“We are doing it more efficiently than other districts across the state,” she said.
Since 2021, Ohio has operated under the Fair School Funding Plan, which was introduced to determine the basic cost of education and is implemented with a six-year phased-in approach. This formula is based on district wealth, relying on income and property values to limit state funding and keeping those wealthier districts dependent on local levies.
Hamilton Schools Treasurer Jeremy Frazier said in the fifth year of the Fair School Funding Plan, lawmakers “started to monkey with” some of the factors inside the formula that determines wealth.
“It has created the desired effect from the state; that state is kicking in even less dollars than when they were before by not fully funding the model,” he said. “Ohio is currently 45th nationally in state funding for K-12 education, which I think is an alarming stat.”
Ohio is also 8th in the nation for property tax burden while ranking 42nd for per-person state taxes, which means families are paying more while the state is paying less.
Twenty years ago, the state’s share of public school funding was about 44.8% of what the district spent, and now it’s at 33.5%. That reduction has put the burden on property owners, though Blevins said they are not planning to ask for a new levy this school year or next school year.
However, if the state’s defunding of public education is maintained, by fiscal year 2028, Hamilton could be more than $14.1 million in the red.
“What we don’t know is what happens in the next two years (FY 28 and FY29). We’re going to have a new governor. He’s the one that sets the stage for educational spending.”
By continuing trends throughout the district’s forecast, “obviously the current trend does not look good for public education. So, we have a deficit problem and that is something we need to address before we get into the unknown before the next biennium budget.”
All districts sending out the message
Hamilton is not alone in facing financial issues in Ohio, nor is it alone in speaking out. In a joint letter issued on Friday, the 12 Butler County superintendents, which include the 10 public school districts, Butler Tech and Butler County Educational Services, said: “Instead of fixing the broken system, some leaders want to cut school funding further — blaming schools instead of addressing the real problem.
“The real problem is that the state has changed how schools and local services are funded,” according to the letter. “Over time, the state has taken on less of the cost, pushing more of the burden onto homeowners and farmers. Now, several new bills in Columbus could take millions of dollars from Butler County schools with no plan to replace it.”
Despite the dire outlook and deficit spending for at least the next two years, Blevins remains hopeful, saying, “We will get through this.”
“We will not have to stop all the amazing programs and opportunities we have for students and staff in the community,” she said. “But we do have to put our heads together, we do have to figure out what are the little tiny things we can do to adjust and change to operate under this new reality.”
Blevins said the district is not in any financial peril at this point, “but we are in a place where we really have to have a conversation.”
That conversation will be about how the financial changes are impacting our district and what long-term planning looks like to ensure Hamilton City Schools “continues to be an amazing organization and public entity for our community,” Blevins said.
She and the other superintendents ask to talk to lawmakers and share the facts of the issue with neighbors and community members.
“Public education is the American Dream, it’s the great equalizer in society, and that is something we are fighting for every single day in our state,” she said.
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