On February 25, 2026 Treasurer Jennifer Burke met with both the Finance Committee and the Board of Education to an update on the District’s finances. The Board Meeting was live-streamed and can be viewed here. Her presentation can be found here.
The Financial Forecast is for Fiscal Years FY26-FY30 and only includes the General Fund. The presentation was comprehensive of General funds as well as other sources such as federal grants, competitive grants and donations. Reading Community City Schools enters this forecast period from a position of relative financial strength, but the long-term picture reflects tightening driven by declining enrollment trends and uncertainty with state school funding and property tax reforms.
Changes in Submission Law of Forecast
HB96 changed the date of submission for the Financial Forecast from November 30th to August 31st in the fall and from May 31st to February 28th in the spring. Mrs. Burke explained this is problematic due to the first District payroll is not until September 5th and staffing and benefit elections are not final by the end of August. In the spring, final property tax settlements are not received by the District. Both of these deadlines could cause less accurate forecasts.
Overall Financial Position
As of July 1, 2025, the district’s cash balance was $8.3 million which is expected to remain positive throughout the forecast period which will end at $7.3 million by 2030. Balanced budgets are anticipated through FY2027 and deficits projected to begin in FY2028-FY2030 as expenditures begin to outpace revenues. The district remains financially stable but due to projected deficits will begin to discuss ways to balance the budget starting in FY2028.
Shifting Revenue Driven by Legislation
The District has three main sources of revenue in the General fund. This includes local property taxes and personal utility property taxes, state funding (fair school funding, Medicaid reimbursement and casino revenue) and other revenue which includes student fees, and interest on investments. Mrs. Burke addressed a recent questions regarding how much Casino/lottery money the District receives annually which is $96,000. Revenue outside the General fund includes Federal grants, local competitive grants, donations, student clubs and athletics.
The chart illustrates a critical shift in the district’s revenue. Half of the General Fund now comes from local taxes (50%), while state funding represents 44%, and all other sources account for just 6%. In HB96, the Fair School Funding Plan final years of phase were rolled out. However, the State did not fund fully fund the formula. The formula was updated for property valuation and income but did not update the base cost data which is the cost to educate a student. This results in a lower state share of funding per student as it makes the local community appear wealthier therefore shifting the cost to local taxpayers. As the state share of formula funding declines, RCCSD becomes more dependent on local property taxes to sustain operations. The statewide average for state share in FY22 was at 41.58%. This has been reduced to 35.0% in FY26 and expected to be at 32.2%. State legislation regarding tax incentives for businesses has resulted in shifting more burden of property taxes off businesses and onto residential taxpayers. We encourage all community members to reach out to their local Senator and Representative to request to fully fund the Fair School Funding Plan.
There is much discussion regarding a statewide effort to eliminate property taxes in Ohio. While that idea may seem attractive at first, property taxes play a critical role in funding schools, as well as city and county services, libraries, and other essential community resources. If property taxes were eliminated, the state would likely need to make up the lost revenue through a significant increase in either sales taxes (estimated to be 15-18%) or income taxes (projected to be 11-15% statewide). The elimination of property taxes would force deep catastrophic cuts to essential services. Property taxes are steady and predictable revenue stream while income tax and sales tax swing from year to year depending on economic conditions.
Enrollment Decline
The enrollment chart shows a gradual decline from approximately 1,587 students to 1,316 from 2021 through today. This is important as the state funding is based on the number of students being educated. As enrollment declines, so does state funding. Mrs. Burke advised the District educates 286 open enrolled students. The District receives $1.2M annually in revenue as the funding follows the student to where they are educated.
Understanding our enrollment trends and who are students are is vital piece of data in financial planning. Data from the FY25 Ohio Cupp report was provided which included the District’s 1316 students, 58.27% are economically disadvantaged and 14.14% are have a disability. Special education students cost significantly more than typical developing peers. These cost are hard to plan for as you do not know which students will be enrolled and what there are their needs.
Mrs. Burke reviewed data from the Ohio Department of Education for RCCSD resident students who attend school outside the District. There are 125 attending community schools, 10 on autism and Jon Peterson scholarship, 23 open enrolled at other local public schools and 171 students who are taking the Ed Choice Expansion Vouchers to attend non-public schools and receiving state funded dollars to aid in the payment of tuition. Of the 171 students using Ed Choice Expansion over 90% of the students are NOT low-income.
The chart below shows local non-pubs total enrollment and of that amount how many students are accessing the Ed Choice and Ed Choice Expansion vouchers. As seen below, the amount of most Ed Choice vouchers is over $8,000 per student and amount of most Ed Choice Expansion voucher is over $4,500. Additionally shown is that amount of the students using these vouchers that are NOT low income is above 90%. The amount of state share per student RCCSD is receiving from the state is $4,295 which is less than most of the vouchers below.
District General Fund Expenditures
District expenditures are primarily made up of personnel costs for salaries and benefits account for 68.% of total spending. Purchased services include contracts for special education requirements, related services educational staff, classroom educational aides, transportation, utilities and facility maintenance represent 27%, while supplies, capital outlay, and other expenses make up the remaining 5%. The Board of Education and Reading Educational Association approved a three year agreement starting on July 1, 2026.
The District also manages on behalf of the two non-pubs within the community Auxiliary funds. The District issues purchase orders, pays invoices using the auxiliary funds and provides special education evaluations of their students.
Mrs. Burke provided a summary of the competitive grants the District has received since 2021 which totaled $2.414 million. Our staff work very hard to find grants that do NOT require matching dollars from the District to provide additional opportunities for our students at no cost to the taxpayer.
Since 2021, the District has received almost $500,000 in donations through our Athletic Boosters, PTO, Business partnerships and dedicated family donations. RCCSD does not have dedicated staff members working on fundraising or endowments as our funds do not allow to hire the staff. Our Booster’s and PTO volunteers work tirelessly volunteering their time, planning fundraising events to provide our students with additional opportunities. The Board of Education and Administration are very thankful for these partnerships and donations.
Additionally Mrs. Burke highlighted the District’s investment earnings since 2021 through January 2026 totaling over $2.8 million in earnings in a five and half year period demonstrating prudent financial management.
Mrs. Burke addressed concerns raised by the community in relation to the City’s proposed bond issue and why the District can’t use cash balance to renovate or why the District can’t fundraise to raise the $5.5M. The District’s levy was passed in 2022 with a plan to not return to the taxpayers for at least ten years. If the District would use $5.5M in cash reserves, RCCSD would be forced to return to the ballot for an operating levy much sooner. Many grants such as the NFL grant have maximum funding available and require a match from the District/City. The maximum amount for a turf field on the NFL grant is $250,000 leaving the majority of the funding to the District to identify. Mrs. Burke discussed the likely successfulness of fundraising $5.5M for major capital improvements. With over 58% of the student population being economically disadvantaged, it is not likely to identify major donors needed for a campaign of this size. Most large capital improvements for municipalities and school districts are financed through bond issues that spread the cost over years making it more affordable annually for families and to the generations that benefit from the asset. As demonstrated above, non-pub schools have a different demographic of students population to fundraise as their students are NOT low-income. Additionally, the state funded vouchers are reducing their tuition payments allows for larger donations to their campaigns. Many non-pubs have a department of staff that work specifically on building endowments, capital campaigns and other scholarship opportunities where our District doesn’t have the funding for the staff without taking way instructional dollars from the classroom.
Mrs. Burke provided a link to the Hamilton County Auditor’s site to look up your parcel to determine your taxes that are being districted to the school and impact of the proposed bond issue. Instructions on how to do this are in the attached presentation. Due to HB920, as your property value increased approved tax rates are rolled back to collect only the amount approved by taxpayers. As seen below, all the RCCSD levies/bond issues have been significantly rolled back as seen by the current tax rates.
Mrs. Burke welcomes all questions and can be reached at 513-842-5108 or via email at [email protected]. If you are interested in joining the Finance committee, please reach out.