Valley school districts brace for loss of funds

COLUMBUS

Boardman and Jackson-Milton schools are among districts expected to take a hit with a loss of overall state funding.

State education officials said basic state foundation aid to schools won’t decrease for any district. But Gov. John Kasich this week vetoed the tangible personal property tax supplement for fiscal year 2017. The money was meant to reimburse school districts for what they lost through elimination of the tangible personal property tax.

Other Mahoning Valley

districts also might be affected by the governor’s vetos, but final numbers aren’t yet available.

The Ohio Department of Education won’t compile funding totals for districts until after the start of the new school year.

“We are about the work of implementing the contents of House Bill 64,” said Aaron Rausch, budget director for the state education department. “We will begin to implement those changes. When the bill becomes effective at the end of September, we will update all of the per-pupil amounts and data....”

Boardman Superintendent Frank Lazzeri doesn’t know yet the impact of the changes. Kasich also vetoed funding guarantees for those considered wealthy districts, but Lazzeri is unhappy about the loss of any funding for the district.

“This is just another slap in the face to our district,” he said. “We hardly get any money to build new buildings or to do any capital improvements and now they’re taking more money away from us.”

Lazzeri takes offense to Kasich’s comments that the money eliminated would have gone mostly to districts that are better off and able to raise taxes locally.

“How arrogant for him to say that,” he said.

Read much MORE in Thursday's Vindicator.