LOVELAND MAGAZINE

News and Events from the Loveland, Ohio Area

Without fear or favor
Since 2004

Tag: Operating levies

  • Providing a great education and a great value

    Providing a great education and a great value

    by Kevin Hawley

    Our goal at Loveland City Schools is to provide a great education for our students and a great value to the community. In order to provide the level of education our community has come to expect and our students deserve, public school districts like ours must return every few years to ask voters to support their schools. This is the reality of public-school funding in Ohio.

    Kevin Hawley is the Loveland City School District Treasurer/CFO

    Schools in the state of Ohio are financed with a combination of federal, state and local funds. The state uses a formula to determine how much money each district should receive based on enrollment and the relative wealth of a district based on property values. This amount varies widely from district to district. Typically, as is the case with Loveland City Schools, a district receives more of its revenue from local property taxes. These taxes are primarily determined by locally-voted tax increases, otherwise known as tax levies. In our case, approximately 58 percent of the financial burden falls to local taxpayers.

    The wonderful part of local revenue being a primary contributor to school funding is that the community maintains control of its schools. Conversely, the challenge is that local revenue does not increase with increases in property values. Therefore, a large portion of a district’s revenue is flat until the community votes to increase its property taxes.

    The Loveland City School District is on the right track and reflects our community, but with our operational needs and reliance on property taxes, coupled with the way Ohio funding works, we will soon need to ask our residents for their support.

    And in the Loveland City School District, we are coming up on a need to ask for additional operating funds, separate from our discussion around Building Tiger Nation and our facility needs.

    Funds generated from operating levies are used for the day-to-day operations of the district such as teachers, utilities and supplies. Because schools, by nature, are a “people” business, the majority of operating funds are used to hire and retain high quality educators as well as provide highly competitive programming for our students.

    The Loveland City School District is on the right track and reflects our community, but with our operational needs and reliance on property taxes, coupled with the way Ohio funding works, we will soon need to ask our residents for their support.

    In the meantime, we continue to send the majority of our budget – 62 percent – directly to the classroom where the biggest impact can be made to prepare students for tomorrow, today. Maintaining the district budget through thoughtful and prudent spending is and always will be my priority. And I am incredibly grateful to our residents for the continued support for our schools, which are such an important part of our community.

    Wildflower House — where women & girls bloom!

  • Loveland School District Financial Update

    Loveland School District Financial Update

    Terrah Floyd is the Interim Treasurer & CFO of the Loveland City School District

    By Terrah Floyd,

    Loveland’s recent update to the district’s financial projections show that the district remains committed to keeping the promises made from the last levy – to make the last levy last through 2018 through conservative fiscal management while maintaining excellent educational opportunities for the students we serve. The district’s forecast, called the five-year financial forecast, was approved by the Board at the April 17 Business Meeting. The five-year financial forecast is a tool that aligns our income and expenses to our district’s current and future goals with respect to academics, operations and facilities. There are some updates to note.

    The district is investing in additional school building safety and security updates. These are needed in order to keep pace with the current safety and security needs and to reflect the changing times.

    First, the forecast shows that the district is investing in additional school building safety and security updates. These are needed in order to keep pace with the current safety and security needs and to reflect the changing times. They include placing fire-code approved locks on interior doors of our buildings, and plan for increased school resource officer presence.

    Plans include placing fire-code approved locks on interior doors of our buildings, and plan for increased school resource officer presence.

    The district is engaging in a Master Planning process with the community. This is an investment, and it is critical to the long-term planning and operations of the district. Aging buildings bring significant costs, and in order to help minimize these for the future we are working now to make sure that we are deliberate about our next steps.

    In fact, we will be able to stretch it a bit longer, and anticipate that an operating levy will be needed in 2019.

    Loveland continues to stretch every dollar and to wisely plan for the future. Our Board of Education kept the promise of making the last levy last through 2018. In fact, we will be able to stretch it a bit longer, and anticipate that an operating levy will be needed in 2019. Operating levies fund the day-to-day operations of our schools like staff, programs, textbooks and supplies.

    To provide you with relevant history, the Loveland City School District passed a 5.6 mill operating levy in May of 2014; passage of the levy provided the district the opportunity to invest in and enrich the excellent education we provide by enhancing the classroom experience for the 4,800 students we serve. None of these investments could have happened without your support, and – as always – we offer a sincere thank you to those who believed in our mission and continue to support our district.