By: Jesse Davis
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jesse@thevillagereporter.com
Swanton Local School District Superintendent Chris Lake used his time at Wednesday’s school board meeting to discuss the role of property taxes and state government in funding schools across the state.
According to Lake, state legislators have been “falling over themselves” to make property tax reforms in an attempt to halt the momentum of a political action committee currently collecting signatures to force a constitutional referendum to eliminate property taxes in Ohio entirely.
He said schools’ reliance on funds from local property taxes has increased as legislative decisions have resulted in state funds as a percentage of overall funding shrinking continually for many years, calling it “a broken system created by our elected officials and their unwillingness to address the defects in the system.”
Lake pointed out that the state was responsible for nearly 54% of school funding in 1975, but is now down to 32.5%.
“This is not a new message. School leaders have been telling our elected officials for years that there is an imbalance in the system and something needed to be done. Legislative apathy has led to this crisis and spawned the anti-property tax movement which now has our elected officials running scared,” Lake wrote in his report.
“The property tax reform measures which have been recently passed do very little to solve the problems which were created by years of neglect and in fact they only put more pressure on school districts to seek additional funding from their communities.
OTHER BUSINESS
Board members approved a contract with Current Office Solutions for the five-year lease of “multifunction printing units.”
Board members approved a revised foundation deduction amount of just more than $1.74 million for the district’s special education services contract with the Northwest Ohio Educational Service Center.
Board members approved the district’s annual contract with A&G Education Services for its 2026-2027 Leap Program at a per diem rate of $150 per student, with the district paying a total of $273,000 to cover slots for 10 students.
Board members approved a slate of personnel contracts, supplementals, substitutes, and resignations.
Board members approved an overnight trip for team volleyball camp at Western Michigan University from July 18 to 19.
Board members approved the scheduling and advertising of a public hearing to be held during its regular meeting on June 10 to consider the rehiring of retiring Swanton Middle School teacher Mark Philippi.
Board members approved a series of policy updates as recommended by NEOLA.
Board members approved a variety of appropriation changes and estimated resource changes.
Board members voted to accept donations totaling $557.33 from Kroger rewards, $2,250 for baseball, $250 for softball, $600 for Adulthood Day, $165 for athletics, $237.60 for prom, $200 for the Gorringe Scholarship, $386 for the high school art department, $3,000 for the boys’ basketball summer camp, $500 for the baseball/softball complex, and $3,400.90 for middle school boys’ basketball jerseys.
The next regular meeting of the Swanton Local School District Board of Education is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 13, at 108 N. Main Street.