NWLSD to Loose $100M in Facility Funding as "the walls come tumbling down" with School De-Funding

NWLSD is set to lose about $100M in facility funding. The Ohio legislature has taken another move to DE-FUND public education and the 2nd largest school district in Hamilton County is being caught in the cross-hairs.

The NWLSD has buildings where the walls are literally collapsing as they sit on a years-long state waiting list for school districts to qualify for state facility funding. Due to the falling bricks and eminent harm it presents to the students and necessary closure of the school, the state has bumped the district to the top of list.

With 1 caveat (and it's a doozie) -

It will cost the district nearly $100M more in matching funds than when they went on the waiting list; before the effort to de-fund public schools began in earnest.

The state co-pay was historically, 45%, now the rate has been reduced to just 22% for major facility works. School districts will now be forced to ask their voters for far more money than was feasible. The state has granted other districts like Middletown and Chillicothe with the original 45% copay recently. However, the state will decide on Monday to afford the NWLSD (Colerain) the same assistance.

Failure to grant the higher copay will likely push the district into insurmountable debt, like that of neighboring Mt. Healthy school system (though for different reasons). The result will be fiscally disastrous.

While Colerain / NWLSD is categorized as a "wealthy" school district due to the inclusion of household incomes and property values of parochial school residents, the district student body is actually poor. Over 70% of the district students live in working-poor neighborhoods. This state level formula scheme fails to recognize the lack of support from the nonpublic school sector, causing the district to receive far less than other school districts with similar demographics in their student body.

The NWLSD put out an Urgent Call for Action requesting residents write their state representatives, Sentor Bill Blessing and Representative Cindy Abrams, to fix the problem and grant the 45% assistance rate that other like-districts have received.

The NWLSD puts our "Urgent Action Needed" call to residents to avoid $100M in financial debt due to school de-funding on state level.Photo byNWLSD, Retrieved June 9, 2024

The Colerain Council of Neighborhoods has created a petition to facilitate the same. It is up to Joy Bledsoe (OFCC president), Gov DeWine, Senator Bill Blessing, and Representative Cindy Abrams to decide the fate of the second-largest school district in Hamilton County. The online petition can be accessed here: https://chng.it/zYqhgbLMLq

The exterior walls of Colerain Elementary were falling off the wall endangering students accessing the building.Photo byNWLSD, Retrieved June 9, 2024