Financial Responsibility
When I go around talking to my neighbors about our school district, I keep hearing the same concern: are we spending taxpayer money wisely? Several folks have told me the same story. Everyone, from longtime residents to new neighbors, expect the best possible financial decisions to be made with the money they entrust to the district. School funding is of course necessary, however we must ensure taxpayer money is being spent wisely, reducing this burden wherever we can without compromising educational quality.
Now our community is drastically different than it was 30 years ago. We have, and will continue to expand. People continue to move to Hilliard because it’s a wonderful place to live. In fact, the Hilliard City School District itself is the number one draw for new residents. However, we can continue to provide an excellent education without putting an excessive burden on our residents.
We have done this by:
Reducing spending in non-essential areas, like eliminating administrative bloat. Through attrition and consolidation, we have saved taxpayers over $700,000 annually. Hilliard has some of the lowest administrative expenditures in the county.
Renegotiating employment contracts, saving roughly $1,000,000 every single year.
Finding new and creative ways to save money, like being the first public school district in Ohio to purchase electric buses. Not only is this a benefit to our environment, but through grants, the purchase of these necessary buses came at a steep discount.
These measures have helped the district to stretch a four year levy to eight years, and we have been able to put those dollars where they matter. By making smart financial decisions, we have been able to attract and maintain high quality talent, expand our school counseling services, afford to employ 14 new special education teachers, add new school safety officers, and expand course offerings, just to name a few areas where sound decision making has benefited us.
I’ve been listening to what those in our community have been saying and I have heard the message loud and clear. We are entrusted with taxpayer dollars and are expected to use those dollars to maintain high quality schools, without wasting funds. Our residents deserve a school board that is acting responsibly with their money so that the district can stretch the time between levies like we have and reduce the overall burden on residents. This is essential and I have proven it is achievable, without sacrificing quality.