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Alternative to Ohio Issue 2? $1500 Local Deficits

By: Jason Hart (Diary)  |  November 1st, 2011 at 08:30 AM  | 

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Inconveniently for the union bosses fighting to kill Senate Bill 5 in Ohio, school district budget forecasts are public record. So, when the people who get rich driving up the cost of government try to blame local deficits on Governor Kasich, it’s easy to disprove their lie. Government unions have put pressure on Ohio taxpayers for years, and there are reams of data to support this fact.

My previous post listed 21 Ohio school districts whose October 2010 forecasts warned of 2015 deficits amounting to $1,200 – $1,500 per resident. As I noted, those districts aren’t the worst examples:

  • Beavercreek City School District: $1,827
  • South Range Local School District: $1,742
  • Mason City School District: $1,689
  • Adams County/Ohio Valley Local School District: $1,678
  • Wilmington City School District: $1,652
  • Strongsville City School District: $1,593
  • Little Miami Local School District: $1,576
  • Warrensville Heights City School District: $1,529

Based on Census Bureau records, every resident of these 8 districts would have to pay more than $1,500 to cover projected deficit costs – and these are not outliers. In 2010, just over 600 school districts submitted five-year forecasts to the Ohio Department of Education. More than 450 districts forecast deficits amounting to at least $100 per resident.

If the union smear campaign wins and Issue 2 is defeated, what options will elected leaders have for dealing with these deficits? Massive tax hikes, widespread layoffs, severe program cuts… or all of the above. Government union reform will restore a little power from unabashed class-warriors to the local officials we elect. Vote Yes on Issue 2!

For more Issue 2 coverage, follow me on Twitter: @jasonahart

Cross-posted at that hero.

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COMMENTS

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  • Death_of_the_Donkey

    Focusing on reality for a minute, the reason that school districts are facing these huge deficits in 2015 is primarily due to the elimination of personal property tax in Ohio (most of which, like real property taxes, went to local schools) in favor of the CAT tax, which went to the state. The problems are going to occur when the state stops sending the school districts CAT tax revenues to make up for the massive tax shift that it undertook under Taft (taking from the locals to give to the state). Whether or not Issue 2 passes, this is going to be a huge issue, as the revenues lost far exceed any projected savings from Issue 2.

    • Death_of_the_Donkey

      Being from the Cleveland area, I quickly googled Strongsville to see if I was on target. Sure enough, there is no way this is an Issue 2 problem:

      In Strongsville, teachers already pay 10% of their healthcare premiums, so Issue 2 adds little there. They also pay for their pensions, so no savings from the pickup rule. There are 408 teachers in Strongsville Schools and there are 44750 residents in Strongsville, so the per teacher savings would have to be $174,000 to make up the deficit.

  • http://whattoreadtoday.blogspot.com/ Paula

    Who do you think pays when Columbus has to pay $41 million for pension pick-ups and when Akron school employees pay nothing toward their healthcare? It’s spread out across the state. For example, the “Big Five” school districts get a disproportionate amount of per pupil funding. In those districts it’s nearly $10 K, where in more affluent districts, it can be as little as $200/per pupil.

    So in Strongsville, you are not only paying (through your property taxes and perhaps even an income tax) for great schools in your district, you are also paying (through your state income taxes and various other taxes – maybe even the lottery- ha!) for lousy schools in Akron and for pension-pickups and gold-plated benefit packages for it’s employees.