Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s Board of Education voted Tuesday to approve a five-year forecast that still shows the district rapidly running out of money, despite voters approving a levy earlier in November.
The forecast approved during the Nov. 19 meeting - which school districts in Ohio are required to approve three times a year - shows CMSD will likely need to cut back significantly on its expenses. Whereas the district’s budget from the spring showed it running out of money by the end of the 2025-2026 school year, the new budget forecast, with the levy included, pushes that out only by another year, district CEO Warren Morgan said during the Nov. 6 board of ed meeting.
The forecast shows the district with just $25 million in cash reserves by the end of the 2026-2027 school year; the next school year, the district would be almost $71 million in the red. Morgan and other school officials have said they will begin a long-term planning process next year that looks at the district's building footprint, as well as other expenses, after years of enrollment declines.
"While we know we still have tough work ahead, we're in a much stronger position than we would have been without the support of our voters," CMSD Board of Education Chair Sara Elaqad said during the Nov. 6 meeting, the day after the levy passed.
Outside of the district likely needing to cut back on its expenses, another problem it faces is less funding from the state for economically disadvantaged students due to a shift in the formula, CMSD Chief Financial Officer Kevin Stockdale said during the Nov. 6 meeting. That'll mean $10.5 million less this year than was previously projected, he said.
At the same time, while the state generally is providing increased funding for all public school districts through its Fair School Funding Plan, the district isn't going to receive much more revenue because of recent property values increasing due to the recent sexennial reappraisal. Stockdale said that means the state is expecting local taxpayers to pick up the tab.
"Cleveland, according to the data that they look at, is looking like a wealthier district with property valuations, which, of course, we know that we don't receive additional funds for (that) and incomes," Stockdale explained.
Stockdale was referring to Ohio's House Bill 920, which locks levy funding in based on property values at the time they were passed. Districts typically only get a small increase in revenue in general when property values jump.
Cuts the district made earlier in 2024, mostly to pandemic relief-funded programming but also 25 central-office staff, did help reduce expenses, documents presented during the recent board meetings show. But those charts continue to show expenses far outpacing revenue, even with the levy.
