Impact of budget cuts felt in school districts statewide

Ohio schools suffered a budget cut of $500 million last year, and school districts are now feeling the impact that a loss of that magnitude can have.School districts have been trying make up for budget cut through tax levies, many of which fail. When they do, districts are forced to make staff cuts.Marysville School District near Columbus was just one of the many districts to fall victim to the budget crisis. The school board was forced to cut 50 jobs, approximately one-sixth of the district’s staff, as a result of the budget crisis.“It’s an ongoing effort to keep us going forward to keep our head above water,” Marysville School District Superintendent Diane Mabee said in December. “I don’t anticipate those jobs coming back without more money coming into the district.”While teachers and administrators are being cut, it is ultimately the students who are suffering most greatly from the cuts.In Beavercreek School District, southeast of Dayton, the failure to pass multiple tax levies forced the district to make cuts in order to save almost $2 million.Their solution: to cut bussing.Lindsay Johnson, a 2012 Beavercreek High School graduate, explained, “All bussing for the high school was cut… for a lot of the younger kids, the ones without a license, it was harder. They had to change the timing of the school to make it easier for parents with kids. When that wasn’t enough, they cut bussing for middle schoolers that lived close to the schools.”Johnson says that the ramifications were far worse than expected.“Some kids weren’t able to get to school. It’s unfortunate but their parents have to work; it’s really sad.”