Inside Olentangy Local Schools: Growth, Funding, and Success with Superintendent Meyer

What happens when a school district grows from 2,000 to 24,000 students in just three decades? Superintendent Todd Meyer joins us to reveal how Olentangy Local Schools manages explosive growth while maintaining educational excellence. Topics covered include:

• 1,600 vs 16,000 per student, why making a case at the statehouse for school funding matters. "For every additional dollar we get from the state," Meyer emphasizes, "that's one less dollar we have to ask from our local taxpayers."
• District faces potential $90-100 million "clawback" of reserves needed for continued growth in the proposed budget
• Need for 5 new school buildings in the coming years to accommodate 2,000+ new students annually
• Security measures include vestibules at all entrances and school resource officers at secondary schools
• Community partnerships providing additional facilities for student activities help us achieve our educational excellence goal. 

Olentangy Local Schools continues breaking records with seven state championships in just two years. From Liberty High School's football and lacrosse titles to Orange High School's back-to-back girls wrestling championships and recent boys basketball state victory, athletic excellence mirrors academic achievement. The district's robotics team just made their third appearance at the world competition, while journalism, speech and debate, and marketing programs consistently earn national recognition.

Listen to hear how the staff at Olentangy Schools is working to ensure the students' educational excellence in the future. 

Transcript

Introduction to Olentangy Schools

Speaker 1 0:01

Welcome to Central Ohio Matters, the podcast where we delve into the issues that shape Central Ohio's future. Each episode features in-depth conversations with local leaders, visionaries and changemakers driving progress in our region. These conversations offer insights into the challenges our communities face and the solutions being crafted to move them forward. Here are your hosts, michelle Gatchel and Ryan Rivers them forward.

Speaker 2 0:27

Here are your hosts, michelle Gatchel and Ryan Rivers. All right, ryan gosh, we have a great episode today, and probably near and dear to your heart, because we're talking about Olentangy Local Schools, and I know you have two children in the school system, correct?

Speaker 3 0:40

I do.

Speaker 2 0:43

You know, schools is something we haven't touched on yet and, gosh, it is the minds of our future, so it's so important, absolutely so joining us is Superintendent Tom Myers. Thank you so much for joining us.

Speaker 4 0:56

Yeah, thank you. Thank you for having me. Glad to be here.

Speaker 2 1:00

And so earlier before we started, we were talking about you started in the system as Orange High School principal.

Speaker 4 1:08

Yes, I was hired back in 2007 to open Orange High School in 2008. And I came to Olentangy from Westerville where I had the opportunity to open Westerville Central as their third high school in 2003. So obviously that experience helped me get selected at Orange High School to serve as their first principal. So and I say this all the time, and you know, my eight years at Orange High School was the best eight years of my career. It was a tremendous opportunity, obviously, coming into a fast growing community which continues to grow, and at that time to open Orange High School as a third high school.

Speaker 4 1:53

And you know just a lot of great memories of creating that school culture and that school community from scratch. And obviously now you know, almost 20 years later, you know the great things that continue to happen across our district, but you know, obviously at Orange High School as well. Speaking of that, I just want to mention too, because we've had some success at Orange High School the winter with our girls wrestling program winning back-to-back state championships and then, obviously, just about a month ago, boys basketball brought home the Division I state title too. So extremely proud of what we do across the district and, for sure, of those efforts at orange high school this past winter yeah, fantastic.

School Funding Challenges

Speaker 2 2:49

So let's start broad and kind of work our way back, if you will, on the state level. Let's let's talk about school funding, and what kind of funding are you getting for your district?

Speaker 4 3:03

Yeah, well, you know that's a good, great question to start with because we are in the mix of the conversations on the next biennium budget which the governor will sign off in June, and for us in Olentangy that's important. So for us in Olentangy that's important. So I'll just a little history. When the fair school funding plan was first introduced a little over four years ago, at that time we were receiving about $620 per pupil, so far below, far below the state average. So we as a district continue to advocate for fair school funding and additional dollars from the state because for us that's tax relief, tax relief for our local property tax owners. For every additional dollar we get from the state is one less dollar we have to ask from our local stakeholders. So introduced the fair school funding plan a little over four years ago, which for us in Olentangy has been good. So we've increased from $620 per pupil to a little over $1,600 per pupil last year and this year it's dropped off a little bit to a little over $1,400 per pupil. So for us that's been great because it allows us to again going back to our local taxpayers because we continue to grow. We were on the ballot last spring because we were being proactive because we need facilities to accommodate the growth, but we also were able to ask for the lowest ask in 30 years in the district because of the additional state funding. Now we weren't successful so obviously we will be back in the future, but right now it's really critical for us that we continue to advocate and tell our story here in Olentangy because, again, we're the fastest growing district in the state. No district continues to grow like Olentangy.

Speaker 4 5:12

So when the governor dropped his budget bill a few, a couple months ago, obviously that went through the house and we spent a lot of time at the district level and from the board level advocating telling our story. So for us, part of that was, when we looked at the governor's original bill, what it did for us. It continued to reduce the dollars that we were collecting or that we were getting from the state. So, like I said, $1,400 and then it was going to drop to a little over 800 on the governor's budget. Because what happens in the formula? Because our wealth index continues to increase our valuation in the district, it was actually penalizing us and causing us to go to a 10 percent threshold floor, which we'd only get 10 percent of the cost per pupil. So eight thousand ten percent, so eight hundred dollars per pupil. So actually that, looking at the original one, that was not going to be beneficial for us.

Speaker 4 6:20

Looking at the original one, that was not going to be beneficial for us. So we advocated for with our state legislators on the House side and talking to a lot of people down at the state house, our district treasurer, cfo Ryan Jenkins, and I went down and testified and so when the House dropped their version of the budget bill which they passed, on the funding formula side, it was going to be beneficial for Olentangy on the fair school funding piece received this year and for the first time they added a growth supplement or growth factor into the formula for districts that continue to grow, like olentangy. So for us that was going to be beneficial.

Speaker 4 7:15

Now, what they also did which is not beneficial to olentangy, is they put a clawback provision into the budget bill and it's Ohio Revised Code, section 5705-316, which is a clawback provision which basically says for any district that has an excess cash balance carryover beyond 30% threshold, that then they were going to charge the county budget commissioner and county auditor to reduce so a reduction the money that we have which is already voted on, by the way. So for us, it on by the way. So, um, so for us, what that means for old tangy is based on that, we'd lose 90 to 100 million dollars in collections, and again I just want to emphasize how important that is for us, because we continue to grow like no other district. So in the school business we need to be able to plan for that growth, to accommodate that growth. So so I'll put it in context.

Speaker 2 8:26

Wait, can we stop for one second though?

Speaker 4 8:28

Yep go ahead.

Speaker 2 8:31

How much does one child cost us? We're saying 800, 1600, how much do they cost us?

Speaker 4 8:38

Great question. So right now we're a little over $16,000 per pupil and so we're below the state average. The state average is about 16,500 per pupil, so well below the state average and, again, because of our wealth index in Olentangy, we've been reliant on the local taxpayer to help fund our schools and I want to thank our community because our community has been extremely supportive over the last 30 years more than three decades supporting our schools. So and I'm glad that you asked the question, so it's extremely important that you know again we continue to advocate for as much school funding from the state that we can get, because every additional dollar we get from the state is one less we have to ask from our taxpayers. So, um, it's, it's, it's critical for us to continue to advocate now.

Growth and Building Needs

Speaker 4 9:38

Uh, like I said, the funding side of that formula. We like the clawback provision. Uh, for sure. Um, we don't like and we have to continue to have. We have time to continue to advocate for allentangy's position. So we started to promote a call to action from our employees as well as our school community on, again, the importance of our fair share in the funding that comes to Olentangy schools here in the future.

Speaker 3 10:04

Of those reserves, what are those earmarked for going forward? Great question.

Speaker 4 10:10

So obviously the growth of the district. So in context we're probably we've been averaging in five years over 2000 additional students. So for us in the school business, 2000 additional students we have to hire personnel, so personnel as far as teachers and support personnel to help support the educational experience of our students. So for us our increased cost have to do with, uh, personnel, um as to accommodate the additional growth. Um, you know, again, we and I've been in the district since, but really the last 10 years is going to mirror what we project the next 10 years, growing by over 5000 students.

Speaker 4 10:56

Michelle, you had mentioned the macro level and what we hear at the macro level. The economic region in central Ohio is really strong, so we hear we're going to grow in central Ohio by 750,000 to a million people by 2050. Well, those people have to go. They have to go somewhere when they move here, right?

Speaker 2 11:11

Because, again.

Speaker 4 11:13

The economic region is strong and we have jobs, so people are going to move to places that have good schools and of course we have great schools here in Olentangy. We're a destination district for many families. The reason I landed here back in 2003, my wife and I, when we moved down from Akron area, was because of the schools and I hear that over and over and over again why people are drawn to Olentangy. So you know, we're extremely proud of that because we, you know, with even with all the growth, we continue to produce a great product at a great value and you know we talk a lot about that as far as the educational experience for our students and then, obviously, at a great exceptional value of the low cost per pupil that we're able to do that.

Speaker 3 12:12

Well, and I'm sure with an increase in students and staff also comes a need for additional buildings.

Speaker 4 12:18

Absolutely so we project just in the near future for sure, in the last spring we had a bond issue for five buildings. So and it's, and it's one thing, and I'll talk about community engagement because we have committees in our committee. So whether they're board committees or superintendent committees, they're comprised of citizens in our school district, school districts. So our facilities committee facility, we have professions, we have professionals who are parents and stakeholders in the community that serve on the facilities committee. So one thing that they do every year is they update our enrollment projections and then they always project out 10 years and it's amazing, every year they're spot on year over year over year on our enrollment. They're always within 1%. So, as a matter of fact, right now, as we're talking right now, our enrollment is 74 students over what they projected in October. So our board of education, they accept, adopt those projections and then those projections help us to plan for the future. So right now we're projecting that we're going to need two to three elementaries in the next five to eight years, fifth high school and then the middle school again to accommodate the growth.

Speaker 4 13:38

And I will say this too because people ask the question about the size of our schools and sometimes people will say we'll just build them bigger.

Speaker 4 13:45

Well, we have some of the largest elementary schools by enrollment, middle schools and high schools in the state. So you know, we feel that we are building those buildings to accommodate, at the elementary level, 625 plus students. At the middle school levels, 950 to 1,150 students, and now all of our high schools are approaching 2,000 students. So for us and again this is, I think, makes Olentangy so special is we talk a lot about this student experience and the student experience. It's critical and it's really incumbent upon us to continue to provide the level of service number one education and opportunities for our kids to thrive in our schools. And size does matter because we do a really, really good job of making bigs feel small here in Olentangy. So that's almost drilling down to the individual student level in our large elementaries, middle schools and high schools to make sure, number one, that they feel safe, that we're providing a welcoming and caring environment and providing them opportunities for them to succeed. So we're proud of that.

Speaker 2 15:00

Well, let's switch topics a little bit. You know news headlines are still shootings in schools. We keep hearing about them, sadly. Safety-wise as a district, how are you making the students feel at ease if that situation could happen? Does that make sense? Yeah?

Speaker 4 15:21

absolutely, and it goes back to the size of our schools. I was students feeling comfortable having conversations with the trusted adults, so you know very easily if you see something say something right.

Speaker 4 15:37

So by us establishing positive relationships with our students and our parents. Obviously, it's critical that we keep open lines of communication relative to school safety Some things that we did. So on the last passage of the 2020 levy, we had specific security upgrades that we were going to put into our buildings, like, for example, we added security vestibules in all of our schools, at the entrance, where our schools are locked down and people have to sign in. So, again, people say you know, we need to do as much as we can to harden the target for access to our buildings.

Speaker 2 16:15

So is that a metal detector, or what does that mean, a vestibule?

Speaker 4 16:19

That's, that's our. Our buildings are locked down, so anybody who comes in our building has to sign in.

Speaker 4 16:24

So they have to buzz in, we have to to know who we identify who they are through our camera system, and then they have to sign, they have to get access from the um building office, and then we also then have a visitor management system where then they have to give us their driver's license. So we do a check, uh with that, on who comes into the building. So that's what I mean by secure, and those are all at our front entrance, so our buildings are locked down okay and then the visitor management uh system.

Speaker 4 16:54

We have uh increased our um sros, so we have dedicated sros in all of our high schools and middle schools now and then uh from sro is uh, the school resource officer, so, okay.

Speaker 4 17:06

partnership with the Delaware County Sheriff's Office and again, I'm so grateful for the partnership that we have with local law enforcement sheriff's office, and it could be even the city of Powell that's in part of our jurisdiction. Columbus we have an elementary that goes down into Columbus, genoa, over on the east side of the district. So those partnerships are extremely important that help us with training year over year and in collaboration. You know, if you know, we go through drills but if something were to happen, to happen, I say this we have great partnerships and the Calvary's coming. We also have a director of safety and school preparedness who does a really good job of continuing these partnerships and, again, always taking a look at how we can improve security and safety. And again, it's going to start with eyes and ears, but whether it's increasing technology with cameras, you know we have a cycle in place to do that.

Speaker 4 18:18

So you know these are things that we'll continue to look at. And again, it's not something that we just stop doing. You know I got to be honest with you as a superintendent. There's a few things that keep me up at night, a lot of things actually, but it's not something that we just stop doing. You know, I got to be honest with you as a superintendent. There's a few things that keep me up at night, a lot of things actually. But you know, school safety is paramount to that and I want to make sure, and we want to make sure, that our parents feel, and our kids feel, safe coming to our schools. So, you know, these are things that we have done and will continue to uh look at and enhance where we need to and mr meyer.

Athletic and Academic Achievements

Speaker 4 18:54

It's been a a big year for the district in the uh athletic programs and and I've been in the business 34 years right, and I actually played athletics growing up. Back back when I was in school, we only had football, basketball and baseball. Now we have everything, which is great because we have opportunities for our kids, but so in two years so I've been superintendent I'm finishing my second year, so in two years we have seven team state championships.

Speaker 2 19:28

Seven.

Speaker 4 19:29

Seven. It's unbelievable. So we have Division I state championship teams from Liberty High School. Last spring, the boys and girls lacrosse team both won the state title Unbelievable and I think that they both have a good chance this year. I don't want to jinx them, but I'm not going to win for you.

Speaker 4 19:48

Yeah, so they won. Obviously we had this fall and was just a great run. Liberty High School's football team won the Division One state championship football championship and I was at that game in Canton and just, and I just I guess I'm getting goosebumps too, because I know it was Liberty High School but it was a community event too, because I know it was Liberty High School but it was a community event and just seeing people from across the community supporting Liberty High School football to just make a great run through the playoffs and obviously bring home the state championship. I already mentioned Orange Girls Wrestling, back-to-back state championships, it's unbelievable. And and it's fitting too because I said the orange high school pioneers, so they've really been pioneers for girls wrestling across the state and again, I hear one of the fastest growing high school sports across the country but um, just unbelievable and they just continue to grow, um, at orange high school and across the district. This year we've implemented at the middle school level girls wrestling as well.

Speaker 4 20:59

And then also want to mention I mentioned, I'll mention again but the the boys basketball state championship at orange high school and when I watch the team play, when you look at a team sport, there's a lot that goes into the level of success that our teams have and this team in particular had.

Speaker 4 21:22

But when you look at kids, as far as being unselfish kids being there for each other, knowing their roles on the team, how they continue to come together to build that culture, and it's not easy, it's not easy but they were able to bring home the state championship. And then we also had, for the first time ever, berlin High School competition. Chair won the state championship and we were recently just recognized at the Delaware County Commissioners meeting this past week. And just hear the a few of the players talk about the experience and again I'm going back to student experience and opportunities that we provide for kids but the experience and the love that they have for their teammates and their school and the community and just you know, just makes me so proud as the superintendent that I can hear those things and obviously, again, that we can provide those opportunities.

Speaker 2 22:17

So yeah, because those, those team building experiences they take on to, you know, through life.

Speaker 4 22:23

Oh, absolutely Absolutely. You learn so many things through extracurriculars and again we talk a lot about academics, academics, we do really well academically, academics here, and we, we do really well academically. But again, there's more to well-rounded experience outside of the four walls of the classroom. So opportunities we provide in co-curriculars, that we provide in extracurriculars, that we provide in some of our outside of the academic, our elective courses, that we provide it's very robust.

Speaker 4 22:55

Yeah, so, and that's important. And you know I talked to, you mentioned athletics. But you know, in the academic side, like our robotics team I think it's the third time they just went to nationals in Houston and this is a. It's a robotics team is students from all of our four high schools and middle schools and we even have it at the elementary level too. But they went to the world competition again for the third time. We have accolades in yearbook and journalism. Speech and debate teams just came from the high schools, our last board meeting and the increase in participation of the students in those clubs, schools at our last board meeting and the increase in participation of the students in those clubs Unbelievable. Our STEM Academy and our On Tangent Teacher Academy those are other programs. They were recognized by OSBA at the spring conference. Our marketing DECA programs, year after year produce national finalists at the national conferences. So it's just, you know it's.

Speaker 2 23:58

I'm having a lot of fun talking about it.

Speaker 4 24:01

I'm extremely humbled just to serve as superintendent at, again, I consider the best school district in the state, but you know for sure one of the best. And you know I'm just so impressed with the level of support. And I say this all the time Delaware County is a great place to raise a family. It's a great place to raise a family and we have great schools in Delaware County and within our school district we have great parents who support the education of our students. We have now over 3000 staff members, which we're the second largest employer in Delaware County.

Speaker 4 24:38

Our staff show up every day and really work to provide the best experience for our kids and I truly believe that. And again, there's proof in what we do year over year with our growth and I say this back in 1990, we were a little over 2,000 students and we are now over 24,000 students in 2024. And to get the results that we continue to get in the district does not happen by accident. We have great people in this district who are committed to our mission to facilitate maximum learning for every student and they show up every day. And it's not easy work every day, but in-.

Speaker 2 25:21

When's school out this year?

Speaker 4 25:23

What's that?

Speaker 2 25:24

When does school get out this year?

Speaker 4 25:28

Right before Memorial Day. So we're on the recognition and honor circuit right now because we have a lot to celebrate at the end of the year. So we're we're doing that right now and the culmination will be graduation on May 18th, down at the shot and we'll we'll graduate well over eighteen hundred students. But I do want to say this because we're so proud of the experience. But this is why I'm going to go back to our original question.

Speaker 4 25:54

This is why state funding is so important for us. It is so important for us because, again, I think that we do public education really well here in Olentangy at an exceptional value, and we're all for tax relief and I want people to hear that we want tax relief. But we feel we get as a community tax relief by getting additional dollars from the Fair School Funding Plan and the state of the high standard and level of experiences that we can provide for our kids back provision sticks. Then you know we're going to have to really make some decisions relative to operations of the district and the unintended consequence we're going to be back on the ballot every year, or at least every two years, for micro levies. So in levy fatigue across the state it exists. So you know that's a challenge for us.

Community Partnerships and Future Outlook

Speaker 3 27:15

And I know we're getting short here on time, but you talk about sports and extracurricular activities. It's got to be a help with the public sector stepping up and and offering some new facilities here for youth sports. Some new facilities here for youth sports. I know there's a swimming facility over in Berlin that's in the works, the Jennings Sports Park. So in Delaware County and Southern Delaware County, some of these new developments I think would be has to be a relief for the school district in offering places, you know fields and places for our young people to play and compete in practice and sports.

Speaker 4 27:57

Yeah, absolutely. Those partnerships are critical for us. So you had mentioned a couple, but let's just talk about the pool. So we worked with the group because they're going to create additional pool space, which is badly needed in our district to accommodate, you know, our growth and then the number of swimmers that we have, so that's going to provide an additional facility for our high school swim team to practice.

Speaker 4 28:24

So we're extremely happy about that and then again I go back to the quality of life and raising a family in Delaware County and in some of the things that we have access to here in Delaware County and will continue to have access in the future for our students and for our families, it's critical. It's critical the long-term environment within the community. So the partnerships are extremely important and that only enhances our student experience here, student experience for our students. So, absolutely, those are good things too, for no matter what students are passionate about or what they're involved in, to have opportunities, obviously in the school, but also outside the school in the community extremely important. So we're excited about those partnerships and continued future partnerships that we have with, you know, community groups outside of the schools Absolutely.

Speaker 2 29:23

Well, Superintendent Meyer, I want to thank you so much for joining us. We're going to have to have you back because there's so much more to talk about.

Speaker 4 29:28

I know you're definitely going to have me back. There is there's a lot to talk about Extremely proud of what we do here and just humbled and honored to serve as superintendent of all Tangier schools and looking forward to graduation day coming up on May 18th. It's a highlight of my year for sure.

Speaker 1 29:49

Ohio Matters. Be sure to like, share and download. We cover government policies, healthcare challenges, housing and business developments, transportation solutions, education and innovation. If you know of a good story we should be talking about, go to the radio station website and fill out a contact form Directed to Michelle Gatchel, host of Central Ohio Matters. Thank you,