Latest news with #JoelParker
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
School funding worries: Area treasurers, superintendents decry policy change
May 10—BATH TOWNSHIP — The Bath school board adopted a resolution Wednesday opposing a provision of the Ohio House's two-year budget bill that would cap public K-12 school cash reserves at 30% of operating expenses. Supporters of the proposed cap on cash reserves, also known as carryover balances, say schools are carrying too much cash from year to year, which they believe should be returned to taxpayers. Opponents say capping cash reserves will hamper long-term planning and result in uneven tax rates, with tax rates rising and falling from year to year based on a district's operating expenses and cash balance. The carryover balance cap would affect more than 500 school districts in Ohio, according to the Ohio School Boards Association, which opposes the measure. Bath's concerns "It would be a loss of local control," said Bath schools Treasurer Joel Parker, who intends to testify before the Senate next week in opposition to the carryover cap. The resolution adopted Wednesday says Bath schools "has taken a conservative approach (to) fiscal management to always be prepared for unforeseen circumstances and excellent bond rating to maximize utilization of taxpayer money and should not be punished for this." The board cites its aging infrastructure, inflation and "unfunded mandates," which require a "well-defined plan for short-term and long-term spending." Such spending is "not flat by design," according to the resolution. The Bath school board is asking lawmakers and Gov. Mike DeWine "to allow local school districts to manage their districts by funding all schools fairly and continuing to allow management of taxation levels and cash balances at the will of local residents." Parker said he'd like to see lawmakers remove the carryover cap from budget discussions so lawmakers can work on property tax reform separately. Lima's losses at $8.2 million Lima schools could lose as much as $8.2 million in the first year if the proposal is approved, though that figure could change if the school board takes action and based on the timeframe the legislature uses to calculate district spending and reserve balances, Treasurer Heather Sharp said. Sharp said the district's cash balance exceeds operating expenses by 44%. That's down from last year's 68% rate, she said. "We are on the right trajectory in terms of lowering our cash on hand," Sharp said. Spencerville's $5 million cut Spencerville Superintendent Brian Woods said his district could lose as much as $5 million in existing funds if the proposal prevails. The district's cash balance reached 71% of operating expenses as of last June. "This is deeply concerning, as we have a carefully planned, multi-year capital improvement plan that relies on these funds for essential, long-term investments," Woods said. "A cap would not eliminate the need for these projects — it would only eliminate the funds we've responsibly saved to complete them. "The result would force us into an impossible position: either allow our facilities to deteriorate or return to voters to request additional funding. Neither option makes sense when we already have taxpayer-approved dollars set aside for these needs." Deficit spending in St. Marys St. Marys Superintendent Bill Ruane said his district plans to use its cash reserve, which is roughly 62% of the previous year's expenditures, to cover a deficit projected by the district's five-year forecast. "Instead of hiring and creating new positions and using money received during COVID, we offset current expenses to build a healthy cash balance to ensure long-term fiscal health, which under this proposal would be erased," Ruane said. He estimates the district could lose $8.8 million in local revenue if the cap is approved. Budget debate Lawmakers are still drafting the state's biennial budget, which will determine school funding for the next two years. In addition to the debate over carryover balances, lawmakers are debating the future of the Fair School Funding Formula, a bipartisan formula introduced in 2021 to comply with Ohio Supreme Court rulings, which found the state relied too heavily on property taxes to fund public K-12 schools. Gov. Mike DeWine's version of the budget retained the formula but froze cost inputs at 2022 levels. The House version of the bill would increase public K-12 school funding by $226 million using a different formula, but would cap carryover balances at 30% of annual operating expenses. Both bills would increase funding for private school vouchers. The Senate is now working on its version of the bill, which must be reconciled with the House and signed into law no later than June 30. Biggest change in policy Ottawa-Glandorf Superintendent Don Horstman described the carryover cap as "the biggest change to public school tax policy in 50 years" written "in less than a week," the superintendent said during an April town hall in Ottawa. Horstman said it took years of delayed maintenance and an income tax levy for his district to go from having 45 days cash on hand, far below the recommended 90 days cash, to having a $10 million cash reserve, or six months cash. "We were derided by some of the current House leadership for not being more frugal and keeping cash on hand for economic emergencies we were experiencing (in 2008)," Horstman said at the town hall. "Now some of these same leaders are attacking districts for being good stewards." Ottawa-Glandorf schools would lose an estimated $6.9 million in revenue the first year if the 30% carryover cap is approved, Horstman said during a town hall meeting in April. "That is devastating to a school district," he said. The district's $10 million cash reserve balance is enough to cover six months of expenses. The cash balance took years to build: Ottawa-Glandorf once held as little as 45 days cash when it passed an income tax levy in 2019, far below the recommended minimum of 90 days cash balance, Horstman said. The district delayed maintenance projects, but now plans to use its reserves to replace a 25-year-old HVAC and roof at the high school, as well as decades-old parking lots, tennis courts, stadium lights and other projects, Horstman said. Featured Local Savings
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bath schools talks school funding with Manchester
Mar. 7—BATH TOWNSHIP — The latest version of Ohio's two-year budget bill uses outdated data to calculate the cost to educate a child, according to Bath schools Treasurer Joel Parker. The proposed budget, introduced by Gov. Mike DeWine in February, phases in the remainder of the so-called Cupp-Patterson school funding formula. But the bill freezes cost inputs used to calculate how much schools spend to educate a child at 2022 levels, while relying on 2024 property tax valuations and income data to determine how much local taxpayers can afford to contribute. The formula would effectively decrease the state's share of per-pupil funding to Bath schools, Parker told state Sen. Susan Manchester (R-Waynesfield) during a special visit to Bath schools Friday. Bath schools spends an average of $12,977 per student, the third lowest in Allen County. The state's share of per-pupil funding to Bath schools would decline from 50% to 39% by fiscal year 2027, according to estimates Parker shared Friday. If lawmakers adopt those changes to the formula, Bath schools may need to ask voters for property tax increases "sooner," Parker said. Potential changes to federal funding if the Trump administration eliminates the Department of Education could be costly too: Bath schools receives about $1.3 million in federal funding for reading instruction, special education and school lunches. "If (federal funding) goes away," Parker said, "it is flipped over to the local voters." Featured Local Savings
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA Beams The First GPS Signals to The Moon
While there aren't any confused tourists finding their way from A to B on the Moon right now, accurately navigating the lunar surface is going to be crucial for astronauts on future missions. To lay the foundations for a lunar navigation system, NASA's Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) has successfully received global positioning system (GPS) signals beamed from Earth's orbit. Part of the Blue Ghost mission that landed on the Moon on March 2, LuGRE's instrument received and tracked communications from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS); a network of satellite-based location technologies that includes GPS. "On Earth we can use GNSS signals to navigate in everything from smartphones to airplanes," says Kevin Coggins, from NASA's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program. "Now, LuGRE shows us that we can successfully acquire and track GNSS signals at the Moon. This is a very exciting discovery for lunar navigation, and we hope to leverage this capability for future missions." It means spacecraft in orbit around the Moon and on its surface will be able to precisely track their positions and velocities against the current time on Earth, enabling navigation technologies to find routes between lunar locations. Lunar GPS should also help spacecraft traveling between Earth and the Moon. Currently, spacecraft positioning is calculated using a complex mix of observations and sensor readings, and it can be quite labor-intensive – so the new approach should save time for astronauts and ground control crew. LuGRE is going to continue to stay in touch with GNSS for 14 days across a distance of some 225,000 miles or around 360,000 kilometers. This should further test the viability of the hardware, and identify any potential bugs. This is also an important point in space history for the Italian Space Agency (ISA): LuGRE is the first piece of kit developed with the help of the agency to make it to the Moon. Once the technology is established, NASA and ISA want to offer it to all space exploration agencies. The LuGRE project is one of many currently underway that are part of the Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon by 2027, and eventually establish a long-term base on the lunar surface. "This mission is more than a technological milestone," says flight dynamics engineer Joel Parker, from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. "We want to enable more and better missions to the Moon for the benefit of everyone, and we want to do it together with our international partners." Intuitive Machines Is Set For Lunar Landing – With Hopping Drone, Ice Drill, And 4G Radio Telescopes Are Revealing a Trove of Faint Circular Objects in The Sky Water May Have Come Into Existence Far Earlier Than We Ever Realized
