Fiscal Emergency – Each year, school districts must submit a five-year projected budget to the state. Based on these projections, the state auditor can place school districts that project immediate deficits, with no new revenue such as levies and no plans to fix the problem, in Fiscal Emergency. Once in Fiscal Emergency, the state can determine which cuts to make to balance the budget. Obvious cuts are programs and people above the basic core education requirements.

Fiscal Year – A fiscal year (FY), or financial year, is a 12-month period used for calculating annual financial reports in businesses and other organizations. A fiscal year (FY) is not necessarily a calendar year. Akron Public Schools fiscal year is July 1 through June 30. For example, in FY08 the district projects a $40 million deficit. FY08 begins July 1, 2007, and ends June 30, 2008.

Homeowner Cost – To calculate the added cost of newly-voted millage, use the following formula:
Market Value of Your Home x 35% = Taxable Value
Taxable Value x [Millage Request/1000] x 87.5% = Cost of Property Tax Increase

Lottery – In 1983, legislation was passed to use a portion of lottery dollars for education. These funds were intended to supplement state funding to education. Instead, the state reduced its education budget by the amount generated by the lottery and used the lottery money to keep
school funding at the same level.

Mill – One mill is .001 or 1/10 of one percent. In Akron, one mill is equivalent to $3,061,798.

State Report Card – Each year the state issues a report card to every district. Based on passage rates of state testing, attendance and graduation rate, and other improvement formulas, a district can be rated as Excellent, Effective, Continuous Improvement, Academic Watch or Academic Emergency. For the 2005-06 school year, APS is rated as Continuous Improvement.

↓ Click on "Other APS Links" below for the complete links list.