ELIDA — Taxpayers in many Ohio school districts feel heavily burdened to “foot the bill” as educators struggle to deal with state funding woes. Many in this school district have felt overlooked by the state when other districts received stacks of cash for new buildings and Elida receives none.
The Ohio Schools Facility Commission has poured extra funding into districts deemed as poor in recent years. It has created a list and Elida’s “number” will not come up any time soon. When it does, the district will become eligible for credited co-funding of a percentage of the local share of a future building project. This is only if the district chooses to conduct another project after a new high school is erected and after it becomes eligible for co-funding.
However, voters who read a press release Tuesday in The Delphos Herald may have thought the OSFC had decided to make an exception and give the district needed funds for its current high school project.
State Senator Keith Faber’s office sent the Herald a release that could easily be misinterpreted to indicate the district is receiving $58 million. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
Superintendent Don Diglia reads a portion of the press release:
“It states ‘the controlling board has approved more than $58 million in funding to the Ohio Schools Facility Commission for the construction of a new academic building in the Elida Local School District.’ It also states ‘the funds released (Tuesday) will enable the district to build a new high school and elementary school.’
“Well, there have not been any funds released or made available to Elida Local Schools for any new buildings. We are not eligible for co-funding. We are participating in the OSFC Expedited Local Partnership Program, which allows us to begin our project early. What really happened was that the OSFC approved our master plan, so that when we do become eligible for co-funding, we have the option of participating in the rest of the program. The press release is very misleading — there has been no money made available to us from the state for our new high school or any part of our building project,” Diglia said.
The district will proceed as planned, after voters approved a ballot measure in November which allows a new high school to be built near the current middle and elementary schools.
Today, the senator’s office provided the following statement regarding the prior press release.
“Working to provide every student in Ohio with a safe and up-to-date learning environment, State Senator Keith Faber (R-Celina) recently announced that the state Controlling Board has approved a master plan for the Elida Local Schools.
‘A key part of the education process is the environment in which students are taught,’ Faber said. ‘The completion of these projects would provide Elida students and teachers with the safest and most up-to-date setting for learning.’
Elida is currently participating in the Expedited Local Partnership Program which allows districts to begin work on an approved OSFC master plan for a district prior to receiving state funding. Once a district is eligible to receive funding from the state, residents will vote on the issue and decide whether or not to complete the master plan and accept the state funding.”