There are good reasons why so much tax money goes to schools: Few things are more important to us than our children, and their educational opportunities are vital in getting them off to a good start in life.
So, we want good teachers, reasonably paid, working in well-maintained school buildings, to develop young minds. And that all costs a lot of money.
The Hamilton County Board of Education has wrestled with the financial realities of the current economic crisis to arrive at a $373 million budget for our schools in the coming year.
To provide a balanced budget, there had to be cuts in health insurance costs (with employees paying more); a few cuts in central office, teaching and assistant principal positions; cuts in the facility maintenance budget; and some other reductions — almost $18 million worth all told.
The budget issues aren’t going away, however, even though the schools’ budget is now balanced.