Most Ross County School Districts Project Red Ink by 2030

- Advertisement -

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — Required five-year forecasts show most Ross County school districts already in the red or expecting to be there by 2030.

The line that matters is “excess of revenues over expenditures.” On that measure, several districts dip negative and stay there through the end of the forecast window. Union-Scioto’s numbers show a negative excess in every year from 2024 through 2030. Southeastern shows a brief bounce in 2027 before sliding back.

Pickaway-Ross Career & Technology Center is the exception. It is the only local school operation forecasting a positive excess in 2030, and it projects a surplus for the next three years. Officials there point to enrollment.

Unioto Treasurer Nick Overly said state decisions can move a forecast overnight in a district that leans heavily on Columbus for funding. That is the bind for much of rural Ross County: local property values do not grow fast enough to cover salaries, insurance, and busing when state aid shifts.

The forecasts are not budgets. They are warning lights. Boards that wait until 2029 to talk about levies, cuts, or shared services will be arguing after the hole is already dug. Parents who want to know whether a program survives should read the forecast now, while there is still time to change the ending.

Next in Ross County: Bainbridge Man With Multiple Outstanding Warrants Faces New Charges Following Ross County Arrest

- Advertisement -