A levy proposal is likely in the cards for Akron Public Schools’ near future, along with further budget reductions, based on Akron Board of Education’s discussions during a retreat over the weekend in Columbus.
The board did not make any decisions during the meeting. Chief Operating Officer Stephen Thompson did, however, present them with financial forecasts showing the district heavily deficit-spending each year after the current fiscal year. In several projections, the district has a negative or very low cash balance by 2027, according to the presentation.
Two scenarios were also presented by Thompson, each of which calls for $15 million in cuts to avoid those negative cash balances in the near future. Both would likely include cutting staff (which makes up roughly 80% of the district's budget).
Board President Derrick Hall struck a reassuring tone in a follow-up interview Monday. He said the district has not made a decision yet on any cuts.
“We are just fine for the next four years from a money standpoint,” he said, pointing to the district’s cash balances at the end of those years.
He said the board did discuss the need for a levy during the retreat and declining school enrollment but said a more “advanced” conversation is coming on all of these topics at one of the board’s upcoming regular meetings. Robinson said during the retreat that he will be making several proposals recommending "cuts, closures (and mergers" over the next year.
Thompson included an explainer in the presentation about getting an operating levy on the spring 2024 ballot, but Hall said the board hasn’t decided yet when it might put that question to voters.
What is clear from Thompson’s presentation is the board will need an operating levy absent major budget cuts (it already cut two positions earlier this year.) It will also need to be careful about additional debt it takes on, with board voting to move forward with a $61-million project to build a new K-8 school in the Kenmore neighborhood earlier this summer.
The board has also discussed the need to replace North High School but does not have the money to support that goal. The district has discussed putting an additional bond issue request on the ballot in the next five years.
Complicating matters is an Ohio law on “unused” school buildings which could require the district to put any such school buildings up for sale to charter schools. The state in 2021 updated that law to explain that it applies to school facilities with “less than 60% of the building” being used for the purpose of direct academic instruction.
Hall said the district’s worry is that the law will apply to school buildings with enrollment lower than 60% of their total capacity. The district has about 4,100 open seats at the elementary school level out of almost 13,000 seats available total, according to the presentation (at least 11 schools are under the 60% capacity limit).
“And so the question becomes… how do we start to try to figure out how do we solve that?” he said. “Does that mean that we're going to need to close additional schools to try to ensure that we have capacity that is high enough to prevent us from being forced to sell off a new building?”
Akron Public Schools for years has seen declining enrollment, partly due to the declining population of Akron in general. Hall said that’s something that the district will need to solve on top of everything else.
