CHUH School District Anticipates State Budget Cuts

The ramifications of Gov. John Kasich’s two-year budget proposal for K-12 education are still unknown at the district level, but representatives from the said they are prepared.

The district receives 17 percent of its funding from the state, and has prepared for a 15 percent cut, said Douglas Heuer, superintendent, by email.

by the district’s chief financial officer, Scott Gainer, is one way the school district is working ahead of the cuts, Heuer said.

at the end of this year and will receive two payments of $28,000, which is more than double what was offered in the previous program, Gainer said by email.

The incentive was created with the $703,700 the district received from the Education Jobs Fund grant, which is traditionally used to save or create teaching jobs.

“If 30 people leave and we replace them with beginning teachers, then we’ve essentially saved $1.2 million. Over time, this savings will be compounded every year, amounting to a multimillion-dollar savings to the district,” Heuer said in earlier emails.

However, depending on how much is cut, the district may not be able to fill all of the positions opened by the retirements, Heuer said. The good news is that if the cuts remain in the 15-percent range, layoffs would be unlikely.

“We have targeted a 10 percent reduction in spending by each department in the district during this school year for supplies, materials and purchased services,” he said by email. “Unless the state revenue reduction is much worse than anticipated, we will not have to cut programs or personnel.” 

For now, he said, the district will continue to wait to see how much of the budget cut the CHUH School District has to shoulder. 

"It's still a little scary," he said.