Last Saturday, two days after the Hamilton County Board of Education finalized the district schools budget for fiscal 2025-2026 following weeks of negotiations, the Hamilton County Principals Association released a letter asking the county and city to dig a little deeper.
The two governmental entities, the letter suggested, should rebalance their priorities to “demonstrate a collective commitment to the future of our city and county” because “schools are being asked to do more with less — again.”
Is that really so?
Only seven years ago, in 2018, according to newspaper archives, the budget for Hamilton County Schools, which served 43,961 students, was $372.8 million. This year, the budget for the school district, which serves 44,500 students, is $674 million.
In that time span, the number of district students increased 1.23%, but the district budget has increased 80.1%.