The problem with the Hamilton County Board of Education asking for an additional $34 million in its fiscal 2020 budget is the knowledge that it will never be enough.
Even as Superintendent Dr. Bryan Johnson explained the budget to Times Free Press editors and writers several weeks ago, district officials acknowledged there was another $30-plus million that school personnel believe is needed.
And that doesn’t even touch the bulk of the cost of the maintenance needs at the system’s 79 schools, a cost that is rumored will skyrocket when a thorough facilities audit is completed.
School board members approved a $443 million budget Thursday night, a budget that seeks $34 million above projected revenue. Such a jump, given that it will be coupled with increased budgetary asks from other county agencies, almost certainly will require a tax increase.
It has been suggested Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger plans to ask for a 49-cent raise in property taxes, but he hasn’t said as much. That would come two years after a de facto tax increase in 2017 that in part funded school district capital needs.