Using our funding wisely is a crucial part of our district’s commitment to being a good steward of taxpayer dollars for our community. Every year, we rely on an external, third-party review of our finances by the state auditor’s office as an important check-in point on this commitment. This process involves a team from the auditor’s offices spending a significant amount of time delving into our financial records and reviewing our practices.
I am pleased to share that our district has again earned a clean audit opinion and the Auditor of State Award for the 2022-2023 fiscal year, recognizing our commitment to effective and accountable financial practices for our community. You can find the fiscal year 2023 audited financial report from the state on our website at www.uaschools.org/annualaudits.aspx.
In November, I presented to the Board of Education a five-year financial forecast for the district covering three years of actual data and five years of anticipated revenues and expenditures. This is a legally required document that is presented to the board for approval and then filed with the state of Ohio.
This document is updated every May and November, providing our district with an important check-in point so that we can keep a clear view on future impacts and needs.
The five year forecast reflects key changes from the May 2023 update, including an increase in investment income and an approximate $2 million annual increase in state aid for the 2023-2024 fiscal year and beyond. The latter is a result of changes made in the Fair School Funding Plan during the state’s biennium budget process.
Recently, all Franklin County homeowners received a new appraisal estimate from the county auditor. While the average increase in property values in Upper Arlington is 26 percent, that doesn’t mean homeowners will be paying 26 percent more in property taxes — or that UA Schools will be receiving 26 percent more in property tax revenue.
As you may recall, a state law known as House Bill 920 ensures that voted operating levies do not grow as property values increase. In fact, as property values increase, tax rates, on average, actually decrease for homeowners. This means the district will get about the same amount of money from a voted operating or permanent improvement levy even once the new valuations go into effect.
In the Upper Arlington Schools, we are committed to preparing the young people of this community for success, both while they’re here and in their next steps in life. An important part of that is ensuring that we have the people — teachers, bus drivers, custodians, nurses, support staff and more — to support our students in every aspect of their school experience.
This year, we are welcoming more than 50 new members of the Upper Arlington Schools team — including classroom teachers, intervention specialists, building principals and more. While they are primarily filling open and existing positions, we do have a few who are joining us due to continuing enrollment growth, particularly at the kindergarten level. This is truly exciting, because those students are coming to us at the very beginning of their Upper Arlington Schools experience.