WESTERVILLE, Ohio (WCMH) -- Westerville City Schools Superintendent Angie Hamberg has her hands full. Since taking over on an interim basis in March 2024, Hamberg has faced two straight budget deficits and a failed property tax levy last November.
Monday night, the Board of Education voted to approve the district's recommendations for cuts in case the coming levy in November fails.
"Everyone on our team felt, you know, physically ill. This is not the work when we get into education that we want to do; we get into this field because we want to provide this experience as an opportunities for kids," explained Superintendent Angie Hamberg. "But the reality is, when we can't balance our budget, we have to look at what we are required to offer as a school district, and then everything else is kind of on the table as things that we've added over the years, because they provide great opportunities for our kids."
NBC4's Kyle Beachy sat down one-on-one with Hamberg Tuesday afternoon to discuss how the district plans to move forward.
To start, Hamberg explained how public schools are funded in the state of Ohio. It's a partnership between the state and the school. The problem for Westerville is that the share of state money has gone down while costs have gone up.
World's highest capacity data center slated to open in Ohio in 2026"We have that state share, which has continued to drop for us. And then we have to make up the rest of the funding at a local level. And school districts in Ohio really only have two options. You can either ask for a property tax or an income tax, and the earned income tax is a relatively newer option. The state looks at our property wealth and our incomes and compares it to all the other public school districts in Ohio. And then they decide what percentage of the funding they want to give us. And so, as we think about that, shifting 25% just since 2021, it's projected to continue to drop," Hamberg explained.
"Our school funding, I think we all will acknowledge in Ohio, is broken. That needs a major overhaul. They just released a report on our property tax in Ohio, and we do have the eighth-highest property tax in the nation. But our state is funding our schools, I believe, at the 46th in the nation. They're still basing our the amount it cost to educate a kid on 2022 numbers. And you can imagine how much inflation we've had since 2022. That's just not realistic, you know. So they've updated our wealth factor, but they haven't updated the other side of the equation," explained Hamberg.
"At the end of the day, the math just doesn't work out. So you can't have less funding inflation and still have the same amount of services," she said.
To cover the deficit, a school district has two options in a property tax levy or an income tax levy. The failed levy in 2024 was a property tax measure. The levy on this November's ballot is a type of income tax levy on 'earned income.'
"We really thought that it would be a good idea to look at that earned income tax because it would provide some relief for our senior citizens. We had heard from our senior citizens in the community, you know, people that maybe have been in their homes for decades. And as property values in central Ohio are higher than much of the rest of the state, that does impact property tax. So we felt the earned income tax would provide some relief to our older residents. The earned income tax does not impact pensions. Social Security, unemployment, or any dividend or interest earnings," said Hamberg.
If that ballot measure doesn't exceed the 50% threshold, the district will have to make up the $20 million difference.
"What are the things that we're able to eliminate to make up that budget deficit? Those are the things that people love. You know, those are the things I know. When I was a kid that I got up in the morning and went to school because I was excited about those extra classes, the places where you learn leadership skills and collaboration, and, you know, all the activities and different opportunities that our kids partake in every day," explained Hamberg.
Audible groans were heard in the audience during the school board meeting on Monday when the district revealed the areas that would need to be cut and the new pay-to-play model.
"Coming up with a list of reductions to reduce to recommend to the board, should we not be successful in November. It's one of the hardest things that, you know, our team has had to do. It's not easy. It's not why we get into education," said Hamberg.
The district started the process to determine where it could make cuts by looking at what legal requirements a public school district must abide by.
"There are certain things, you know, we have to teach math. We don't have to have athletics or offer them at the rate that we do right now. When kids don't have those opportunities, not only are they not learning those skills, but then what are they filling their time with?" Hamberg added.
The pay-to-play numbers are projected to generate $1.3 million more, which still doesn't cover the transportation and added costs with athletics. High School athletes would be required to pay $500 per sport, with no family cap. Currently, High School athletes pay $180 for the first sport, $90 for the second, and $0 for a third sport. The current family cap on the fee is $360.
"Unfortunately, we realize that's going to disproportionately impact our families who are economically disadvantaged. Our large families, certainly, that's going to be more challenging as they have to make decisions on what they're able to, allow their kids to participate in, and it's devastating to think about any time kids don't have those opportunities. We have a situation where families who are able to might look at moving out of the community to be able to find those opportunities," explained Hamberg.
The State of Ohio has made changes to funding for public education in recent years. The EdChoice program has allocated more than $1 billion for paying private schools.
"It is my hope that education can be nonpartisan, and our state, I really think we all, regardless of people's political views, have a vested interest in having a successful public school system, and that we all need to invest in our children and their futures," explained Hamberg.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 4.
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