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NORTH JACKSON -- The Jackson-Milton Board of Education debated at the monthly meeting last week how to best address the district's decreased revenue.
The decrease in revenue is being caused by the state of Ohio decreasing funding for the Fair School Funding Plan, a public school funding formula, and changes made by Ohio House Bill 186, which limits how much property tax revenue can come from the 20-mill floor.
"That typically leads to questions about, 'OK, how are you gonna make up for that loss of revenue?'" board member Rob Vernon said. "Unfortunately, the legislators decided, in December, they weren't gonna fund the final year of that Fair School Funding Plan, and they were gonna attach the 20-mill floor limit. We spent a lot of time at last month's meeting talking about the perfect storm for Jackson-Milton, and what it was gonna do to our revenue."
Vernon criticized the decision, citing difficulties in balancing what school programs to retain and how much to ask constituents to pay in property taxes.
"What these legislators have done is affecting literally every one of the 611 public school districts in the state of Ohio, and it puts you in a position where you are going to have to figure out if you're either going to make massive amounts of cuts, or you're gonna have to go back to the taxpayers and ask for more money," Vernon said.
As a way to offset the loss in revenue, board member Nick Campbell suggested the possibility of charging tuition for open enrollment students who live outside of the Jackson-Milton school district.
"Given the fact that we are kind of a desirable district in this area, is there anything worth looking into that we can keep the open enrollment parameters that we have, but charging tuition to open enroll at Jackson-Milton," Campbell said.
His suggestion was criticized by fellow board member Kerianne Truitt, who argued that charging tuition could interfere with the right to an education and harm the school's standing among parents.
"I feel like the entire foundation of the public school system has completely crumbled ... It is a constitutional right. That's why the public schools exist. It is a constitutional right to have an education," Truitt said. "I'm really struggling with this, and then suggesting that we should charge tuition is just wild to me ... If conversations keep going like this, this is why homeschooling is on the rise, guys. People are just saying, 'Fine, we're better off just faring it alone.'"
Campbell defended the suggestion by reiterating that any tuition would only be for students living outside of the school district, and choose to go to Jackson-Milton.
"I wouldn't even consider saying the word 'tuition' with our taxpayers who live in Jackson and Milton Townships, that's who we're legally bound to educate," Campbell said. "I'm talking about kids that have opportunities to be educated (elsewhere), but choose to come across the boundaries and choose to be educated here. We don't have to educate them."
No decision was made.