Restoring Student-Focused Budget Priorities

Restore Transportation and Intervention Services
Critical reductions in transportation and intervention services must be reinstated. Budget adjustments should instead target areas with minimal impact on students, ensuring equitable access to essential educational resources.

Reevaluate Instructional Coach Positions
The instructional coach positions introduced in 2023-2024 were largely unpopular and came at a significant cost—at least $185,000. This figure includes half the salaries of five teachers and a conservative estimate of $5,000 per teacher for partial benefits. This expenditure nearly matched the cost of our estimated transportation savings for 2024-2025—a vital need that directly impacts students and families.

Missed Opportunity for Levy Reallocation
The initial levy proposal in fall 2023 should have prioritized reducing the existing 1.25% earned income tax to .75% and adding a .5% earned income tax with 100% of the revenue directed to the general fund. Unfortunately, the board’s decisions resulted in an estimated loss of $1.2 million in operating funds for the 2024 and 2025 calendar years.

Savings and Revenue Solutions

If the transportation savings were estimated to be only $170,000, consider these alternative options that would have minimal impact on students.

1. Optimize Administrative Staffing
   Eliminate at least two administrator positions, including newly created roles in recent years, which have minimal direct impact on students.
2. Enhance Benefits Management
   Southwestern Ohio EPC data reveals that 35% of 104 districts use a spousal carve-out or coordination policy to reduce healthcare costs. Implementing Healia Health‘s Total Care Option could achieve similar savings while enhancing employee retention by offering no-cost options for some employees. Miami County Educational Service Center utilizes this approach.
3. Adjust Advanced Placement Offerings
   Reduce the number of Advanced Placement (AP) courses and replace them with dual enrollment opportunities. These programs not only benefit students financially but also align with the Ohio Department of Education’s planned inclusion of College Credit Plus (CCP) metrics on the state report card. If credentialed teachers are insufficient, apply for this grant (deadline: December 20th) to expand credentials. Transitioning to CCP would likely appeal to the majority of students.
4. Reward Cost-Saving Initiatives
   Incentivize employees to propose and implement creative cost-saving ideas by offering rewards for realized savings.
5. Go Digital to Cut Costs
   Eliminate paper mailings by utilizing PowerSchool’s Enrollment product for mass emails. This approach saves costs while maintaining organized records in each student’s file.
6. Leverage In-House Expertise for Data Visualization
   Avoid costly consultants by utilizing district resources to create data visualizations. Teachers in business and computer science can lead this effort, with students contributing through creative projects. This cost-effective approach fosters skill development while generating valuable insights.
7. Adjust Existing Earned Income Tax Structure
   On the May 2025 ballot, propose reducing the current 1.25% earned income tax to 0.75% while introducing an additional 0.5% earned income tax, with 100% of the revenue dedicated to the general fund.