Superintendent Justin Robertson acknowledges it’s a “big ask” to request a $21 million increase from the county, but he sees it as the beginning of a discussion — one that occurs as the school district wrestles with a shrinking share of Hamilton County’s property tax money.
“This is the right conversation to be having,” Robertson said in an interview Friday. “How do we fund our school system in a way that it supports our entire community? The conversation is ongoing and being productive.”
With budget season underway, Robertson on May 15 asked the Hamilton County Commission for a boost in local funding to help cover pay increases for staff. Starting pay for teachers, school leaders note, lags behind other surrounding districts, making it harder to recruit and retain employees. The district’s proposed budget for next fiscal year totals roughly $674 million.
Over the past decade, the percentage of local property tax money going to the school system’s budget has dwindled, dropping from 54% in fiscal year 2007 to 43% in 2023.