'Under attack.' Stark educators say state funding cuts would destroy public education

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CANTON – The message was clear: Public education is under attack.
Stark County educators gathered June 10 at the Canton Memorial Civic Center for a Rally for Public Education. Organized by Canton Mayor William V. Sherer II, the informational session featured local educators discussing the impact the proposed state budget measures would have on their districts.
"Public education is under attack from Columbus and the effects could be potentially fatal for some (Stark school) districts," Sherer told more than 1,000 people, many teachers and school staff, attending the event.
"When you talk about educating children, there are no shortcuts. When you wage war on public education, you are attacking the mortar that holds the community together."
Sherer said the issues public schools are facing are not a Democratic or Republican issue, but rather the future of every child.
"We need to remain unified in our resolve in support of children, educators and schools in our community in the long term and we need to help to do that," the mayor said. "You can say this is not my lane or my problem, but this is all of our problems right now."
Plain Local Superintendent Brent May echoed Sherer's remarks.
"It's all of our problems," he said. "We are one county united in one goal - bring awareness to what is happening in Columbus. In our opinion, (this) will quickly destroy and dismantle public school districts in Stark County."
The proposed state budget, including funding levels for public schools and measures that target districts' rainy day funds and underutilized schools, is raising concerns among school and municipal leaders.
"The narrative going on in Columbus and nationwide is wrong and sometimes embarrassing," May said. "Our people are working hard. Now they are coming out with budget proposals that will change your community. Your public school district will not look the same next year if some of these things happen."
Districts are looking at three different scenarios, none of them good, he said.
Under the governor's proposed budget, Plain Local would lose $2.7 million in fiscal year 2026 and an additional $1.7 million the following year. That plan would put funding back to 2021 levels and doesn't account for inflation, he said.
Under the Ohio House plan, Plain would be flat-funded for the next two years followed by a loss of more than $8 million in the following two years, he said.
The Ohio Senate's proposed budget has Plain losing $2.2 million next year and every year after.
Plain leaders says they have already cut $3 million from next year's budget.
Targeted cuts could be arts, career tech, college-credit plus courses, busing, mental health services, clubs, STEM, before- and after-school care and summer camps.
"Lots of experiences for our kids," May said. "All of this costs money."
Scarlett Bouder, co-founder and president of Advocacy and Communication Solutions and moderator, asked local leaders to explain the impact of proposed funding plans.
Nearly 80% of Canton City School's budget comes from state funding, Superintendent Jeff Talbert told the audience.
The state, he added, has a responsibility to fund a public school system, but the funding formula is unconstitutional. For many years, legislators chose not to fix the problem, but in 2022, a bipartisan fair funding formula was developed.
The plan has been phased in over the years, but local leaders say the proposed budgets are turning away from the formula.
Legislators are "hell bent on tearing it apart," Talbert said.
A measure in the proposed state budget would require districts with a carryover of more than 30% of their operating budget to return the overage to taxpayers.
Stark County Educational Service Center Superintendent Joe Chaddock said districts have no control over their revenues.
After facing a recession in 2012, state legislators told school districts facing financial crisis that they should have created a rainy day fund, he said.
"We listened," Chaddock said. "Now a new general assembly says return it. It's a mixed message."
If the carryover is taken away, district leaders say they will have to go back to voters to approve new operating levies.
Levies are hard to pass, Plain Local Board of Education vice president John Halkias said.
"People need to know we are not taking this money and wasting it. We are squirreling it away. It is money to fund our school. We don't get an inflation increase on property taxes. It allows us not to come back to voters time and time again. The state wants to be heroes. They are taking money from us. It is criminal and the most brazen attempt I've seen in 26 years to destroy public education."
If the measure passes, Chaddock said, all of the county's public districts will repeatedly be heading back to the voters. Passage of the levies could be increasingly harder if a new provision requiring a 60% passage rate for any levy is enacted, he added.
Talbert also addressed a proposal that would require districts to sell buildings that are at 60% or lower capacity.
Districts would be required to offer the schools to charters and non-public schools at a value price, he said, adding it is not clear what value price is but it is likely lower than market value.
Timken High School, which is used for the district's career tech programs, is below 60% capacity, Talbert said.
"That state will mandate we sell our career tech campus to a charter school without having our voters or community have a say," he said. "They told us to evict our kids from their building so that organizations outside our community can come in and make a profit on the backs of our students."
Alliance High School is in a similar position. When the high school was built 50 years ago, the district had about 3,000 students and a population of about 50,000. Now there are fewer than 1,000.
"We are being punished because our population has dropped and enrollment dropped," Alliance City Schools Superintendent Rob Gress said.
Louisville City Schools Superintendent Michele Shaffer reminded the audience that an existing law says districts can sell a building if it has been empty for more than one year and not part of a long-term district facility plan. The new legislation ignores the law.
The buildings were paid for by local taxpayers and how the buildings are used should be decided by local taxpayers and elected board members, she added.
Even if a building isn't full, it doesn't mean it isn't being used properly, she said. Some spaces have been designed with students in mind. For instance, some programs like career tech require more space.
"It is almost unbelievable the stuff you are hearing tonight," Halkias said.
Canton City Schools Board President Scott Russ said the district lost about $1 billion in the past three years from Canton Local students attending charter and private schools through the voucher program. Around 3,000 Canton City School students attend these schools.
Under the state plan, the voucher program will receive about $1 billion next year, while only 10% of Ohio students attend voucher schools.
The economic loss of students leaving public schools is compounded by the state requirement for districts to bus those students.
May said his district buses students to 11 district schools and an additional 16 to 20 private and charter schools.
Chaddock said leaders believe in educational choice but want everyone to be on an even terms.
"We can compete academically, in the arts and on the athletic fields, but we also believe in a level playing field," he said.
Voucher schools are not required to be audited, follow public record laws, conduct state testing or complete a five-year financial forecast like their public school counterparts.
"If you are going to give them locally voted taxpayer dollars, at least make them play by the same rules," Chaddock said.
Leaders urged the public to stay informed about what is happening in Columbus.
The potential funding cuts and other measures are going to impact staffing.
"The hardest thing we have to do as a school board is cutting staff," Russ added. "If funding doesn't change, you will start to see every school district have to affect a lot of people's livelihoods, their lives, their insurance, how they live, where they live."
He encouraged community members to get out and vote and send a message to legislators who aren't listening.
"Show up at the ballot and vote and know who you are voting for," he said.
Reach Amy at 330-775-1135 or [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on The Independent: Stark public school leaders: Public education is under attack