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YOUNGSTOWN -- The Youngstown City School District's four-year financial forecast is wrapped in a strong layer of security, with an added garment of proactivity, a school official says.
"For three of the four years, we're funded, and we intend to be proactive to prepare for the future," Treasurer Michael A. Rock said after Tuesday afternoon's regular board of education meeting at Youngstown Rayen Early College High School. "If you do something now, it helps you in the future."
Rock was referring to the district's unreserved fund balances for fiscal years 2027, 2028 and 2029, which are $23,482,723, $17,186,443 and $8,148,412, respectively.
Despite fiscal year 2030 having a projected $3,481,247 shortfall, Rock said he and Superintendent Jeremy Batchelor are working closely together to take steps to consider all strategic funding ideas to protect and preserve the district's existing revenue stream, as well as address budgets and budgeting opportunities to improve the projected negative figure for 2030.
"We have some time to plan for that, because it's in 2029," Rock said, adding, "We are being strategic with every dollar we spend in the classroom. We want it to go to the students."
Also embedded in the four-year forecast are items in a two-year collective bargaining agreement, adopted earlier this month, between the district and the Youngstown Education Association that includes 3% pay raises for teachers in the 2026-27 and 2027-28 school years. The agreement, effective July 1, expires June 30, 2028.
The financial picture also stands in stark contrast to a prediction several years ago that the district might face a $17 million deficit, Batchelor said in his report.
"We've flipped the forecast. I'm proud as heck. It's showing the community that we're doing well," he added.
The projected financial forecast also reinforces to the larger community that the board and other stakeholders are working more effectively and proactively with one another, board member Joseph Meranto said.
SOME CHALLENGES
Despite the positive outlook, Youngstown and other districts statewide continue to face certain challenges. Chief among them are changes to property tax laws that are expected to create decreases in tax revenue, along with limits to inside millage, from which the district can no longer receive funding, Rock explained.
The combined losses from inside millage limitations and a county Homestead exemption are estimated at more than $597,000 for a year, according to the treasurer's report.
Contrary to the state Homestead exemption, which fully reimburses school districts for lost tax revenue from the general revenue fund. the local exemption that Mahoning County commissioners approved, in line with Ohio House Bill 96 that was passed in 2025, doubles the owner-occupancy tax credit to a 5% reduction, though in so doing, the shift also created a roughly $12 million shortfall for school districts and local governments because the state does not reimburse that cost, according to the Mahoning County auditor's website.
Property taxes account for 26% of the district's total revenue, with 61% coming from state funding, according to Rock's report.
Also, the district's 9.51-mill emergency operational levy that generates nearly $5.3 million annually is set to expire in 2029. Compounding the situation is a state legislative reform to the Ohio Revised Code that took effect Jan. 1 that no longer allows school districts to renew or replace emergency levies on the ballot -- something that places the $5.3 million revenue stream at risk after 2029, Rock has warned.
The district, however, intends to pursue a levy with similar millage so that taxes remain the same, he noted.
"The key is to preserve a $5 million revenue stream in the district's levy portfolio," Rock said in his report.
In addition, the district is projected to save an estimated $6 million in payroll costs, with about $46 million this year, compared to $53 million three years ago. Also, this year's outlook includes about $1.83 million in staff and administrative savings, his report showed.
NEW SYSTEM
In other business, Robert Kearns, the district's chief of staff, suggested ways to update a board policy for the first time since 2004, which would allow a greater number of students to be recognized for their work and achievements.
Enacting such a recommendation would replace a traditional ranking system with a Latin honor system, a tier-based recognition to honor graduating students with high grade-point averages or class rankings. The move would create four distinctions: summa cum laude, magna cum laude, cum laude and academic excellence, Kearns said, adding that the system also would do away with valedictorian and salutatorian designations.