The Board of Education and district leadership team continue to discuss school finances at Board meetings after the renewal was rejected by voters. In July, the Board voted to approve a resolution to proceed with placing a 1% earned income tax levy on the Nov. 5, 2024 ballot. The additional funds generated by this levy would be used to maintain current educational programs, continue the implementation of the district’s strategic plan, provide permanent improvement funds and keep up with rising costs related to the district’s day-to-day expenses.

The proposed levy will be on the Nov. 5, 2024 ballot. The voter registration (Clinton County / Warren County) deadline for this election is Oct. 7, and early voting (Clinton Count / Warren County) begins on Oct 8.

Additional funds are necessary to maintain current educational programs, continue the implementation of the district’s strategic plan, and keep up with rising costs related to the district’s day-to-day expenses.

Even though school districts in Ohio receive a combination of federal, state, and local funds, about half of Clinton-Massie Local Schools’ funding comes from the state and federal government. On average, schools in Ohio get $6,860.50 per student from the state and $2,153.59 per student from the federal government. Clinton-Massie Local Schools receives   $6,684.04 per student from the state and $768.26 from the federal government.

Yes and no. Because of state law, if property values go up, voted levy rates go down, so the amount of money the district collects stays the same.  Voted levy rates cannot go below 20 mills, which is where ours have been for at least a decade, so yes, we do see an increase in revenue.  This amount is already included in our financial plans.

Want to learn more about the Clinton County Auditor’s 2023 property tax revaluation or the Warren County Auditor's 2024 property tax revaluation? See their websites ar http://clintoncountyaditor.org and http://wcauditor.org

The district leadership team and building administrators are currently looking for ways to save money and make more cuts if needed. They are looking at all areas of the operations – teachers and support staff, program offerings, busing, and raising fees. Once a reduction plan is created, the Board of Education must review and approve it. More information will be shared with the community at that time.

Levy campaigns are managed by a political action committee, and private donations from individuals and businesses fund the campaign. District funds are not used to advocate for or against a levy or bond issue.

Ohio’s Public Employees’ Collective Bargaining Act requires that the district collectively bargain wages with its represented staff, which constitutes a significant majority of the district’s workforce.In May, the Board approved a new one-year contract with the Clinton-Massie Education Association (CMEA). This contract stipulates a 1% increase to the base salary for all district employees for the next year.

Yes. District employees can provide neutral, accurate, and factual information about a levy or bond issue at any time. They also can engage in campaign activity on their own time and on their own dime.

District employees cannot use district resources to advocate for or against a levy or bond issue, and they cannot advocate for or against a levy or bond issue while being compensated by the district.

Providing safe learning environments is a priority for our district. The district uses permanent improvement fund to pay for building repairs, renovations and other long-term improvements. Our school facilities include 384,774 square feet of space in 2 buildings, with the middle school built in 1963 and modified in 2008, high school 2004 and elementary 2005.

When we don’t include the permanent improvement fund and only look at the district’s operating costs, about 78.3% of the budget goes to paying salaries and benefits for teachers and support staff. The rest of the money goes toward other expenses like buying classroom supplies, fueling buses, and paying for utilities.

In the chart below, “Purchased Services” includes contracted expenses, such as utilities, trash collection, copier machines, electronic systems for student data, and communication with families. “Supplies and Materials” includes curriculum resources, bus fuel, paper, printer supplies, and items like paper towels and toilet paper. Finally, “Other Expenses” cover bank and auditor fees.

There is currently a 0.5% earned income tax in place. The proposed levy is for a 1.0% earned income tax so it would double the current amount.

January 1, 2025

May 7, 2019 and prior to that November 8, 1988 (for operating purposes; there were construction bonds in 2001 approved)

Property taxes have been the main source of funding for Ohio’s schools since the 1800s. Approximately two-thirds of all property taxes levied in Ohio go to fund schools. The remainder of property tax money is divided among local governments.  In Clinton County, we receive about 56% of your taxes and in Warren County we receive about 58% of your taxes.

The district’s operating fund (also known as the general fund) supports the daily expenses of our schools – things like paying teachers and support staff, buying classroom supplies, fueling buses, and paying for utilities. The most recent levy for additional operating funds was approved in 2019.

Yes. Besides the money from past permanent improvement levies, the district can also use its general fund for daily operating costs, as well as facility maintenance projects.

School districts need money to maintain operations, and voted levies are the main source of funding for most districts in Ohio. However, state law freezes the amount of money school districts receive from those levies – providing the same dollar amount year after year. As home values increase, the county auditor lowers the tax rate, which is called the “effective” millage. This makes it hard for school districts to keep up with rising costs, and it’s why they need to ask voters for more money every few years.

This chart shows how the effective millage has decreased for three of Clinton-Massie’s’ tax levies.The levies prior to 1976 were passed for 17.3 mills.  The 1979 levy passed for 3 mills and the 1988 levy passed for another 3 mills. The current residential effective rate on these levies is 20 mills, and the district collected about $6.7 million from these levies last year. If the district were to pass a 3-mill levy today, it would raise $1.29 million per year.

Clinton-Massie Local Schools’ local tax effort on all levies (including income tax) for residential properties falls second-to-last among neighboring school districts, ranking 8th out of 9 districts per the ODEW District Profile Report for FY2023.  The ODEW Fair School Funding Formula assumes all districts have a local tax effort index of at least 1.000.  

The district’s treasurer publishes a five-year financial forecast twice a year. This report gives an overview of our current financial situation and predicts what will happen financially over the next five years. According to the May 2024 Financial Forecast, the district is currently spending more money than it’s bringing in, and without additional funding, we’ll be very close to running out of cash by 2027. You can always find the most recent financial forecast on the Treasurer page of the district website.This chart shows that, compared to other schools in the area Clinton-Massie maintains a much lower cash reserve (green bars) than other districts and therefore our cash balance to expenses ratio (orange line) is much lower.

Yes. Grant funding was provided to school districts in fiscal years 2021, 2022, and 2023 to help with the COVID-19 pandemic. You can view a summary of the funding that Clinton-Massie Local Schools received and how it’s been used. All funds were spent by the completion of the 2022-2023 school year.

When a school levy does not pass, it does not mean the district will receive more money from the state. Ohio’s school funding formula is based on how much a local community can afford to support its schools. Passing or not passing a levy won’t change the level of funding provided to Clinton-Massie Local Schools through the state’s funding formula.

When the March 2024 levy failed, the Board of Education and district leaders decided not to replace 12 employees as well as increasing fees which will save about $1.3 million from the district’s operating fund.In May, the board approved a new one-year contract with the Clinton-Massie Education Association (CMEA). This contract stipulates a 1% increase to the base salary for all district employees for the next year.Besides these cuts, the district uses several ongoing measures to save money. Here are a few examples:* Procuring cost-saving contracts: Working with the Southwest Ohio Educational Purchasing Council, a group with 250 other school districts, to get better deals on energy, buses, equipment, and supplies

• Comparing prices: Always checking prices from different vendors to get the best deals without lowering quality
• Seeking grants: Looking for grant opportunities as often as possible to add to our financial resources
• Selling unused assets: Using GovDeals to sell unused items, which has earned the district $9,155 just since this summer
• Managing payroll costs: Keeping base salary increases at an average of 2.14% for teachers, administrators, and all other staff over the last 10 years* Doubling the deductibles for those employees who have our insurance

1,786 students in grades PreK-12 enrolled in Clinton-Massie Local Schools during the 2023-24 school year, a 3% decrease from the previous year. Our average enrollment over the past 10 years is about 1,848 students.  We know that enrollment will continue to decrease as we discontinued our K-5 open enrollment and the 6-12 open enrolled students will matriculate out.

We decided to end open enrollment in the elementary school (and moving forward) because personnel is our largest cost.  We had several teachers retiring (in the elementary specifically), so by not filling those positions, we could still be within our class-size targets with resident students, but no longer with our open enrolled students included. 

Prior to the Fair School Funding Plan, we were receiving additional money for those students who chose to open enroll here (and losing money for those students choosing to leave).  Now, our enrollment, whether residential or open enrolled, is part of the base calculations.  We do not get enough money from those base calculations, so that's why we're on the guarantee that we explained.  So it's also no longer a financial incentive to offer open enrollment.

When we passed the 0.5% in 2019, we knew that money would not last the length of the levy.  We did receive almost $3 million from COVID money that we used to cover some typical general fund expenses, so we were able to stay off the ballot until the levy expired.  We have only been budgeting expenses based on our revenue, and now that our buildings are all 20+ years old, we do not have the money available to maintain them.  By asking for 1%, a portion (if not all) of the additional 0.5% will go toward maintaining our buildings and the systems associated with them (HVAC, plumbing, etc.).  

We are pursuing an earned income tax for two reasons - the first is that by being an earned income tax, we are only taxing those wages reported on a W-2, Schedule C or Schedule F and nothing else. By choosing an earned income tax instead of a property tax, those on fixed incomes will not be affected.  The second reason is because a property tax continues to collect the original amount it was passed for.  So for instance, if we passed a property tax that would raise $3.2 million, we could only collect $3.2 million for the life of the levy.  By asking for an income tax, as income increases, so does our revenue.  (Same with the flip side though - if income decreases, so does our revenue.)