For the last while I have been throwing myself into the problem of understanding the school district’s funding and budget.
It turns out it is deeply complicated.
But I think that the community has both the right and responsibility to understand it.
So what I have tried to do is simplify it down to something that might make sense to us average folks.

OK, let’s start with corn.

Corn?
Yes, imagine that the school district collects corn instead of money.
12 different machines are sent out to harvest corn from community properties, the State ships in some corn, and the district has a tiny flower bed that it has planted some corn in.
All that corn gets gathered up and put into a silo.

So what does the district do with this corn?
Mostly they pay a lady named Jenny.
You see, Jenny keeps the place running.
She takes care of all the day to day stuff for the school district like paying staff, printing fliers, and buying lunch materials.

So Jenny gets paid in corn and gets everything done.
Corn is constantly flowing into the silo and out to Jenny.
Jenny will only accept payment in corn but corn is not the only thing the district pays people with, it has eggs too.

Right now the district also has a chicken.
One of the district’s 12 harvesting machines only harvests corn for feeding the chicken.
The chicken eats the corn and lays eggs, so now the district has eggs.

What do you do with eggs?
Well, this guy named Quinn works for the district by building and repairing things that are expected to last 5 or more years.
He can be paid in corn or eggs.

So why does the district keep a chicken if it can just pay Quinn in corn?
Because once you feed corn to a chicken you can’t take it back out again, you have to wait for the eggs.
Jenny can’t be paid in eggs so once the corn is in the chicken then Jenny can’t have it.
That means the district is making itself set aside a savings fund to replace or fix things that last 5 years or longer.
These are things like refrigerators, buses, or classroom projectors.
Most of those things cost a lot all at once so you need to save up for that cost before they break.
The chicken keeps the district from spending what it should be saving.

That is what the district looks like right now.
Corn is harvested from our community properties by 11 machines.
That corn is added to the silo along with shipments from the State and a small harvest from the district’s investment garden.
One more harvesting machine collects corn only for feeding the chicken to save eggs.

Not long ago, in 2022, the district had more chickens and an additional harvesting machine just to feed them.
The district needed Quinn to do some work, so it asked us voters if it could crank up another machine to feed more chickens.
The voters agreed, so from 2017 until 2022 we had more eggs for Quinn.
The district could have asked for another machine to just harvest more corn.
But if there is just more corn it could be used to pay Jenny as well.
By agreeing to only chickens the voters made sure that their extra corn would go to Quinn.
In other words, voters made sure that only things that last 5 or more years could be bought.

So is that everything?
Yes, corn and eggs for now.
But the district also wants milk.

Milk?
Yeah, the district wants to get a cow.
You see, Quinn can repair buildings but big projects like a whole new building isn’t his thing.
For building projects, the district has Mr. Steiner.

So what does he get paid in?
Oh Mr. Steiner isn’t picky, he’ll take corn or eggs or milk.
But he is also the only one that will take milk, Jenny and Quinn won’t.
And, like the chicken, once you feed corn to the cow you can’t get it back out again so you have to wait for the milk.
If the voters want to make sure the district is paying for building projects and only building projects then the district needs a cow.

The problem with building projects is that they are very expensive and need to be paid for all at once upfront.
The district doesn’t have enough corn saved for that.
The district doesn’t have enough eggs saved for that.
So it needs to agree to pay Mr. Steiner regularly for a long time, a debt that needs repaid.

This is what the district levy in May is proposing:
It will get a cow.
It will make a new harvesting machine to collect corn from properties to only feed to the cow.
The cow will produce milk to pay Mr. Steiner.
Mr. Steiner will build a new building in about 2-3 years but will get repaid for the next 36 years.

It is possible to pay Mr. Steiner off early.
Remember, he accepts milk or eggs or corn.
If the district saved up a lot of eggs or suddenly finds its silo bursting with corn, it could pay the debt early.
In fact, the State of Ohio has suggested it could send some of its own milk supply to help pay Mr. Steiner.
The Ohio milk won’t be there immediately but Ohio thinks it could be in a year or two.
This milk from Ohio isn’t enough to repay everything but every little bit helps.
Any of these options would be decided by our board of education.

So this is how the district looks simplified:
The district takes in corn.
A tiny amount of corn is fed a chicken to get eggs.
The district is asking voters if it can get a cow to produce milk.
Jenny takes care of general things for the district.
She only accepts corn.
Quinn takes care of things that last 5 years or longer for the district.
He accepts corn or eggs.
Mr. Steiner takes care of building projects for the district.
He accepts corn or eggs or milk.

Behind this simplified example are a lot of laws, rules, guidelines, and numbers in the millions.
If you want to follow along in future school funding meetings this is what everything actually is:
The Silo is the district’s General Funds.
The Chicken is the Permanent Improvement, or PI, funds.
The Cow would be a bond issued by the district to pay for construction.
Jenny, Quinn, and Mr. Steiner represent the different programs, projects, and items the district spends money on.

Take the example of a teacher’s pay.
The teacher’s pay is not an item expected to last 5 or more years, so it isn’t like Quinn.
The teacher’s pay is not a building project, so it isn’t like Mr. Steiner.
But it does keep the schools running so it fall under Jenny.
So, the teacher can only be paid from the general funds, not from the PI or bond funds.

Now a bus.
A bus will hopefully last 5+ years so it is like Quinn.
It is not a building project so it is not like Mr. Steiner.
So, the bus can be paid for either from the general funds or the PI funds.

Now a new middle school.
A new middle school is part of a building program so it is like Mr. Steiner.
So, it can be paid with general funds or PI funds or bond funds.

The reason for all these rules is to ensure that the school districts in Ohio don’t take their community funding for granted.
Communities don’t have to accept giving districts money to use for whatever they feel like.
Districts can be forced to save for a rainy day or forced to get community approval to build.

There are more interesting details to this system but I think I have gone on enough for one post.
I will be doing another two posts that I will link to in the comments after they are up.
One will be about surprises I found while investigating our recent property tax increases.
The other will be about surprises I found diving into the details of how school funding in Ohio works over decades.

If you have any questions about the details or my sourcing feel free to comment or contact me directly.