Madison Local Schools Budget Reduction Plan

• •The district has experienced a steady decline in student enrollment for 20 years.
• •State funding is decreasing because the Ohio school funding model allocates aid based on student enrollment numbers.
• •A county-level property tax 'giveback' adjustment has reduced the district's local revenue.
• •Operational costs for insurance, utilities, and maintenance are rising faster than revenue.
• •Community recommendations include selling or repurposing the Board of Education building, Pre-K building, North Elementary, and Red Bird facilities.
• •Proposed grade band reorganizations include consolidating elementary schools into a single K-4 campus or shifting grade configurations for HS, MS, and elementary levels.
• •Staffing reduction strategies include attrition, retirements, eliminating assistant principal roles, and offering staff buyouts.
• •Transportation proposals include moving to state-minimum busing, enforcing group stops, and eliminating busing for athletics and non-mandated field trips.
• •Extracurricular cost management suggestions include increasing pay-to-participate fees and canceling low-participation sports like tennis.
• •The district has held a series of community connection meetings and Q&A sessions from October 2025 through April 2026.

Residents face potential changes to school building locations, student transportation services, extracurricular program availability, and district staffing levels as the school board seeks to align operational costs with declining revenue.

Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.