Strongsville - Strongsville City Schools will endure a 17% reduction in its state funding over the final two months of the current fiscal year, as part of Governor DeWine’s budget cuts due to the coronavirus pandemic. This percentage represents $1.6 million of the total $9.1 million in state funding for this school year.
Last week, Governor DeWine announced $775 million in cuts to the state budget, including reductions in the state’s school foundation funding formula ($330 million) and in other educational items ($55 million).
Reductions for next fiscal year, which begins July 1st, are still unknown at this point. Mr. George Anagnostou, Treasurer for Strongsville City Schools, will be presenting the District’s five year forecast at the May 21st Board of Education meeting, incorporating multiple scenarios due to estimated state funding reductions and other current economic factors.
“We have been anticipating reductions from the state for several weeks and expect that future reductions are likely to occur. Our District continues to proactively manage and look for efficiencies in our budget. The recent reductions announced by the Governor will have an impact on our current budget, as well as forecasts for the next few years. The Treasurer’s Department will be working with stakeholders across our District to formulate plans to minimize the effects of these reductions in state funds to our annual budget,” said Anagnostou.
“Financial Prudence is one of our three goals for the District. The recent cuts announced by the Governor will directly challenge this goal. However, as a District we are committed to doing what is in the best interest of our students in a fiscally responsible way, within the parameters and expectations of our taxpayers. We have an excellent leadership team in our District, which will continue to develop short- and long-term plans with these, and potential future budget reductions in mind,” said Richard Micko, President of Strongsville’s Board of Education.
Other districts, like Cleveland ($5.6 million) and Parma ($2.4 million) are also facing significant cuts from the budget reduction.
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