BELPRE, Ohio – Superintendent Jeffrey Greenley testified in Columbus before the Ohio Senate Finance Committee on May 31, 2023 to advocate for additional state dollars for Belpre City Schools. The Finance Committee was considering whether to agree with the Ohio House’s budget bill, championed by Belpre’s Representative Jay Edwards who is currently serving as the Chairman of the Ohio House Finance Committee. Superintendent Greenley testified that Ohio must increase its state funding per pupil for Belpre City Schools, and all district in Ohio, in order to protect ongoing operations for students and protect local taxpayers from future. “…[I]f our district is going to maintain operations at our current level, especially with the ESSER/ARP funds expiring in the near future, we must see further implementation of Fair Funding which includes FY 2022 cost sets. Without it, we would lose the small amount of ground we have gained in terms of student support, and would have to ask our tax base for additional operating funds.” In terms of funding, Belpre City Schools' tax base wealth and property tax valuation is considered by Columbus as one of the wealthiest in Ohio; out of around 604 districts, Ohio has ranked Belpre at #208 in terms of most wealthy. Belpre is rated that way because of how Ohio weights property valuation, W2 tax information of residents and geographic size. Because Ohio has placed Belpre among the top 1/3 of wealthy districts in Ohio, they send the district less money because they believe the tax base in Belpre is wealthy enough to fund the difference with local tax levies. Superintendent Greenley’s testimony sought to combat that image head on, “…[G]iven our demographic, which includes many retirees on a fixed income, they feel their property valuation does not translate into disposable income that they can dedicate to support [the district].” Belpre deserves a more equitable amount of funding per pupil. Although the House version of the budget still falls short of what Belpre City School administrators believe Ohio should be sending in terms of per-pupil funding, the Senate should concur with the House and continue to phase in Fair Funding that would ultimately send more state dollars to our district.
In addition to additional state funding per pupil, Superintendent Greenley also testified in support of the Ohio Accelerated Appalachian School Building Bill – another key bill that would provide additional funding for a possible building project in the school district. This important bill was included in their version of the budget bill. If passed the bill would support Belpre City Schools in two important ways. First, it would allow the district to immediately access state funding dollars for a building project rather than have to wait under the Expedited Local Partnership Program which the district has used for its previous bond levy ballot initiatives. Second, the bill has language that says if a district’s residents pass a bond levy ballot levy the first time it is on a ballot, Ohio would contribute an additional 20% of state funds for the project. In Belpre’s case, that could translate to an additional $6 million or more dollars to the project. Superintendent Greenley testified that “These ballot issues have been divisive to say the least in our town. There are good people on both sides of the debate who want to provide for our children but have harsh realities given current economic conditions…it's time that Appalachian counties get an equitable opportunity to see their students placed in learning environments that will better support them at a cost our community can afford.” The Ohio Senate will release its version of the budget bill on or around June 6 which will begin another round of testimony as the Senate considers this important bill. Belpre City Schools urges the Ohio Senate to vote in favor of this important legislation and provide our local tax payers with relief in the form of additional funding for our local school district. You can read the Superintendent's testimony in its entirety by clicking on this link.