Loss of Property Tax Dollars from a Transfer In Ohio

In Crowe v. State Bd. of Edn. (Oct. 26, 1999), Franklin App. No. 99AP-78, 1999 Ohio App, the hearing officer concluded that the loss of property tax dollars from the proposed transfer would be "detrimental to the fiscal or educational operation" of the transferring district. On review, the trial court found, and this court affirmed, however, that no evidence showed how much money the transferring district would lose. The Court stated: We do not believe that the purpose of Ohio Adm.Code 3301-89-02(B)(9) is to simply determine whether a relinquishing school district will lose funds. Since Ohio school districts receive their funding primarily from state revenue paid on a per pupil basis, and local revenue "which consists primarily of locally voted school district property tax levies" (see DeRolph v. State (1997), 78 Ohio St. 3d 193, 199, 1997 Ohio 84, 677 N.E.2d 733), almost every transfer of property from a school district will negatively impact their funding. The key to Ohio Adm.Code 3301-89-02(B)(9) is whether the loss of funds would be "detrimental to the fiscal or educational operation of the relinquishing school district." This requires a finding of how the loss of income would affect the relinquishing school district. Simply presenting evidence that the relinquishing school district will lose funds is insufficient to show that the loss of funds would be detrimental to the fiscal or educational operation of the school district.