The Little Miami Local School District is currently operating at the 20-mill floor. The district has the lowest effective millage rate of any Warren County school district.
Little Miami's percentage of state aid has drastically declined, meaning the burden of funding has fallen more and more to the local taxpayers. State aid has been reduced from 44 percent to 23 percent over the past 6 years since the last operating levy was passed.
Little Miami receives the least amount of income per pupil than any district in the county. This includes all sources of revenue — local, state and federal. Only 25 school districts in the state (4%) have a lower income per pupil. Little Miami's is nearly $2,400 per student less than the state average.
At the same time, Little Miami is ranked in the top 25 percent of Ohio school districts on the State Report Card.
Only 11 school districts in Ohio had a greater percentage of enrollment growth than Little Miami from the 2005-2006 school year to the 2006-2007 school year — the most current years available for comparative data.
Little Miami's enrollment has grown by 37 percent — or 1,145 students — since 2002. This means the district must plan to add 8 additional teaching positions each year just to keep up with enrollment growth. The cost to educate this enrollment growth equals $34 million.
The district recently restructured its administrative staff, resulting in a savings of $250,000.
Little Miami's administrative expenditures are 17.4 percent below the state average.
In Warren County, only Waynesville and Carlisle schools — with enrollment figures of about 3,000 students less than ours — have fewer administrative positions than Little Miami. In fact, Little Miami has the second highest student-to-administrator ratio in the county and is in the top 17% percent in the state. This means 83% of Ohio school districts have a lower student-to-administrator ratio.
