Funding Sought For School Districts Hurt By Tornadoes

OHIO — Nearly a year and a half after multiple tornadoes ripped through the Miami Valley, local school districts are still hurting.

The property damage left districts with the loss of tax money because valuations dropped. So now two state lawmakers are trying to fix the problem with special financial help from the Statehouse.

Rep. J. Todd Smith, R-Farmersville and Rep. Phil Plummer, R-Dayton introduced HB 480 to provide districts with some much needed relief. The bill provides a total of $1 million of state tax money to be shared among districts that qualify to make up for the loss of property valuation. The funding is limited to districts that suffered losses from natural disasters on May 27 and 28, 2019.

Hearings on the bill opened Tuesday in the Ohio House Finance Committee. “Memorial Day 2019 was a dark day for Ohioans when 20 tornadoes hit our state in a 24 hour period,” said Rep. J. Todd Smith. There were more than 4,500 properties damaged  that night and the dollar value estimated at $1 billion, according to Smith.

The money would come from a fund that had been created earlier by the legislature to help pay for natural disasters. The new legislation would permit an allocation to school districts for loss of tax valuation. Rep. Plummer said the money is badly needed by districts and would be put to a good use. "It could pay for those counselors we need for mental health in schools. The wrap around services we have been pushing for. When you lose taxes you lose services. We don’t

want to lose those services. We are fighting for our kids. And want to recoup some of these losses and properly fund our school systems," Plummer said.

Plummer and Smith are hoping the bill will win passage in the lame duck session of the legislature by the end of the year.

Cox Media Group