The Worthington Board of Education closed the books on fiscal year 2026 at its June 29 meeting, the last of the fiscal year, with the district finishing about $2.8 million ahead of projections. The board unanimously approved final 2026 appropriations, an initial spending plan for fiscal year 2027, year-end fund transfers, and a fee schedule that changes where athletic participation fees go, though not what families pay.
Spending Came in Under Budget
Treasurer TJ Cusick reported the district spent approximately $2.6 million less than budgeted in fiscal 2026, or about 2 percent. Roughly $900,000 of that is money individual school buildings didn't spend and are allowed to carry over into next year, leaving the district about $1.7 million under on its own operations.
Revenue was a mixed picture. Real estate taxes, the district's largest funding source, came in about half a million dollars under projection, a shortfall Cusick said will likely repeat in the second half of the calendar year. Interest income went the other way and finished roughly $1 million above projection, as the Federal Reserve held rates steady rather than cutting them as many expected a year ago.
"So bottom line, we are 2.8 million to the good for 2026," Cusick told the board.
Why Property Tax Revenue Fell Short
Cusick attributed the real estate tax shortfall to the "reclassification of commercial property to residential", which reduces the tax rolls the district collects against.
Commercial property valuation has become a running battle for the district. Superintendent Trent Bowers wrote on his blog in June about the stakes: under Ohio's House Bill 126, school districts face new restrictions on challenging property valuations they believe are too low, and a recent Ohio Supreme Court ruling left districts with no appeal route when a county board of revisions rules against them. Bowers pointed to Copley Park, a development on Worthington Galena Road that sat on the county tax rolls at $15.7 million even though the district had knowledge its ownership entity transferred for $34.3 million. The district challenged that valuation and recently won on appeal. When commercial properties are undervalued, Bowers wrote, the burden shifts to homeowners: "It shows up on your tax bill."
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Athletic Fees Stay Flat, but Will Now Fund Athletics Entirely
The board approved the fiscal 2027 fee schedule with dollar amounts unchanged from last year. What changes is where athletic pay-to-participate fees go. Under current practice, 70 percent of those fees fund the athletic budget and 30 percent goes to the general fund to offset advisor costs. Beginning this year, 100 percent will go to the athletic fund.
Cusick explained the shift is what allows the fee itself to hold steady despite inflation in athletics costs: "In order to keep that fee at what it is, we need to give them 100% of that to make their budgets meet with officials and supplies and things like that".
Year-End Transfers: Food Service and Construction Interest
The board approved two notable year-end transfers:
- About $87,000 to the food service fund to cover deficit student meal balances, as required under the federal school lunch program. The food service operation itself is on solid footing: Bowers wrote on his blog in June that district kitchens served more than 1 million meals this school year, nearly 32 percent of students now qualify for free or reduced-price meals, and meal prices haven't increased since the 2011-12 school year.
- $3 million in interest earnings from the construction fund into the capital projects reserve fund, which now totals approximately $18.2 million. Cusick said the district is holding the interest there in part because some of it may need to be paid back to the federal government as arbitrage, a calculation that happens in 2028, five years after the district issued its construction bonds.
2027 Spending Plan Approved
The board also adopted the initial fiscal year 2027 appropriations, which Cusick said match what the board was presented in May, plus the building-budget carryover. The new fiscal year began July 1. All of the financial items passed 5-0.
The board separately renewed its annual membership in the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding, a school-funding advocacy coalition, at the same rate as last year.