Daniel M. Romano
In response to a growing student enrollment that exceeds Merwin Elementary School’s capacity, West Clermont added modular classroom units last summer to the Merwin campus.
What comes to mind when you think of the scales of justice or in a science class? For me, it’s the image of a scale. This is also the image I see when I think about West Clermont’s responsibility to maintain balance within our district — for our students, staff, families, business partners, and the broader community. Balancing the scales in the areas of finance, staffing and enrollment, and facilities especially weigh on my mind these days.
The Board of Education approved West Clermont’s latest 5-year forecast at its May 22 meeting. The forecast shows that we have a stable balance — for now. Like districts across Ohio, we are fighting to maintain, and even increase, the level of support we receive from the state. In recent years, we have become increasingly reliant on local funding, to the tune of 63% of our budget for FY23.
House Bill 110 and the Fair School Funding Plan, passed in 2021, limited district funding to FY19 levels, but our world, and particularly education, has changed drastically since then. Ohio’s next biennium budget is expected to be signed into law at the end of June, but as of now, the impact to our district from the Fair School Funding Plan is expected to remain unchanged moving forward. In essence, we will continue to be funded without an increase from the state at the same FY19 levels.
ESSER funding, which allows West Clermont to invest in its Onward and Upward initiative focusing on people, programs, and processes, as well as the collection of the emergency levy revenue, has helped us level the scales. However, projected increased enrollment and post-COVID inflation rates are projected to throw our balance off kilter by FY25, when we are expected to have our expenses outpace our revenues.
We are committed to continuing to make the best use of the dollars entrusted to us by routinely evaluating our practices to look for greater efficiencies, and finding alternative funding sources through grants and community partnerships. Additionally, we are upholding our 2020 levy promise that there will be no new voter-approved funding asks through 2024.
Staffing and enrollment are other areas that are currently causing lopsidedness on our scales. We are in a national teacher and educational support staff shortage. As more teachers are leaving the profession, there is a 24.2% decrease in students graduating from post-secondary educational programs between 2017-2018 and 2018-2019. Ohio’s rates are even higher than this national average. Locally, West Clermont lost 8% of its staff during the 2022-23 school year due to a variety of reasons including retirement, teachers leaving the profession, or finding a position with a higher salary or one closer to home. On the other side of the scale, our student enrollment is expected to increase by roughly 800 students over the next five years.
Our facilities are of course impacted by these factors. Our staffing and enrollment challenges mean higher burnout rates for staff, larger classroom sizes, and the addition of modulars.
At West Clermont, we strive to take a proactive rather than reactive approach by focusing on finding dynamic educators and retaining them by fostering a culture of engagement and well-being. To alleviate our enrollment and facilities demands, we:
● Completed redistricting of elementary school boundaries (2019-20 school year)
● Reduced open enrollment to ensure we have space for our students first (2022-23 school year)
● Honored building-to-building transfer requests to help with overcrowding at certain grade levels and schools (Ongoing) ● Purchased modular units where other solutions were not sufficient (2022-23 school year)
● Continue to explore how to redesign our current space until a more permanent master facilities plan is developed and funded (Ongoing)
We are grateful for our community’s input and ideas for balancing our scales. Stay tuned for additional engagement activities this fall where discussion on these topics will continue.
by Daniel M. Romano, CFO & Treasurer West Clermont Schools