Sylvania Schools could lose millions of dollars in current state budget proposal

SYLVANIA, Ohio — Sylvania School leaders are the latest to raise the alarm about Gov. Mike Dewine’s state budget proposal.

The district says it could lose more than two million dollars in funding over the next two years.

“We want to thank the legislators for their work on the fair school funding plan the last several years,” Adam Koch, Sylvania Schools treasurer said.

The fair school funding plan is money the district gets from the state to help with paying teachers, buying school buses and much more to improve the district overall.

However, there may be a struggle for the next school year.

“Right now, we are funded based on 2022 levels, and in this new budget, if the school funding plan would be increased to 2024 numbers, we would not see that negative reduction in revenue,” Koch said.

That negative reduction is the $2.2 million the district expects to lose if they are still being given the same amount of money they were given in 2022, despite the rising cost of school resources now.

“Conversations are happening and ongoing on what we’re going to do and where can we, you know, tighten our belts up a little bit,” Koch said.

He said they are not looking at making any cuts or making any decisions that are going to impact the education of the students. Instead, they’re going to look at how they can be more efficient with their operations, which he said the district already is doing well.

“Our cost that we spend on average per student that we have here is continually lower than the state average, lower than the local school districts in our area,” Koch said.

While the district may not be making any cuts, State Rep. Erika White, D-Springfield Township, said this proposal could just make that the case for other schools.

“That means that we’re seeing right now that there’s going to be a child that’s not going to be able to have a meal at school,” White said. “They’re not going to be able to be fully educated at school. They’re not going to be able to have a way to get back and forth to school.”

Both Koch and representative White said people should reach out to state lawmakers and highlight the importance of funding public education. 

WTOL 11 reached out to republican lawmakers for comment and thoughts but as of this publication are still waiting to hear back.