Youngstown Mahoning County
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The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled four different times that Ohio’s school funding formula is unconstitutional because it doesn’t fairly calculate student need. Most critically, it relies too much on property taxes to pay for them.
Perhaps no other Ohio school district is this more plainly the case than in Youngstown.
Youngstown is a unique case.
Since the state started diverting local school district revenue to privately-run charter schools and private school tuition subsidies, local property taxpayers have become overwhelmingly responsible for funding Youngstown public schools—an increase of more than 25%. This is the second-highest local tax burden shift of any district in Ohio due to these privatization policies.
To add insult to injury, Youngstown relies more than ever on local property taxes to pay for schools. Yet due to the Youngstown economy’s collapse over the last 3 decades, the school district raises much less than it used to. As a result, while local property taxpayers have stepped up and are now paying more than double the tax rate they did 25 years ago, that tax rate only raises 90% of the money the lower rate raised 25 years ago.
In more detail…
In 1986, Youngstown property taxpayers paid 25.74 mills of property tax and that raised $28.4 million in today’s dollars. Today, Youngstown property taxpayers pay 54.90 mills and that only raises $22.6 million. That means Youngstown property taxpayers pay more than double the tax rate of 1986 and it raises about 10% less revenue for the district.
Youngstown kids deserve better.
Our legislators must pass the Fair School Funding Plan, so local residents no longer have to bear the overwhelming burden of funding their schools in the aftermath of economic collapse.
With the Fair School Funding Plan, all Ohio kids can go to thriving, well-funded public schools that help nurture their dreams, rather than privately-run charter schools and private schools that take resources away from the community. Together, we’re pulling through for an Ohio that fairly and fully funds all our schools. No exceptions.