Schools to pay for low numbers

COLUMBUS (AP) — Enrollment projections at some Ohio school districts were off for the just-completed academic year, meaning 188 districts will have to return $6.4 million to the state.

Gov. Ted Strickland is expected to sign a budget bill this week that corrects a discrepancy between enrollment projections and actual enrollment figures for the 2008 fiscal year, which ends June 30.

Those projections partially determined how money was allocated in Ohio’s complex school-funding formula.

The 188 districts whose enrollments were lower than estimated will have to pay back $6.4 million, while 116 other districts whose enrollment exceeded expectations will receive payments totaling $15.9 million.

Officials at the Lancaster schools district, about 30 miles southeast of Columbus, said they had no warning they would have to pay back about $618,000.

“Any reduction in revenue at this point is a hit,” Treasurer Steve St. Clair said. “We’ll have to find another source of revenue and decrease expenses. It’s not like we can go out on the street and gather more revenue.”

But an extra $484,000 will help the cash-strapped Marysville schools district, where board members decided last month to cut high school busing and close an elementary school. The district, about 30 miles northwest of Columbus, is considering a ballot request in November after repeated attempts for more operating money failed.