School District to Hold Public Forum on Funding Issues

Your mission: Start a ruckus to make a difference for the Solon district.

The administration will hold a public forum at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Solon High School to discuss a pending financial strain on the district that involves the phasing out of tangible personal property taxes. District spokeswoman Tammy Strom said the district stands to lose $10.3 million over the next eight years if nothing is done. That money makes up 18 percent of the district's budget.

When HB 66 was passed,  a promise was made that hard-hit districts would be reimbursed by the state to make up for the loss of TPP dollars. Strom said that promise was not upheld after former Gov. Ted Strickland vetoed it.

The Solon school district still thought it had a couple more years to figure out a way to deal with the loss, but as a part of the new budget, Gov. John Kasich wants to phase the money out starting July 1.  "The state will begin to stop paying those reimbursements at a graduated rate over the next eight and a half years," Strom said. "Right now we get $10.7 million a year in TPP reimbursement and it's a significant portion of our budget."

Officials at Thursday's meeting will encourage residents to write their state officials and demand change. All the information will be provided to make it easy, Strom said.

"We want them to come to the meeting so they can totally understand that this was local money that the state promised, and now they're reneging," Strom said. "The steps we want them to take is to raise a ruckus. Call, write and email our state legislators and other law makers to encourage them and urge them to change this proposal because it's not fair."