Delaware growth pushing schools to tipping point

DELAWARE, Ohio (WCMH) -- When Delaware County Commissioner Jeff Benton was a child, he recalls a modestly sized Olentangy Local School District.

"It was a 500- or 600-student district, in one building," he said.

Perhaps no single institution better demonstrates the population boom in Delaware County than Olentangy Schools.

Today, more than 24,000 students are enrolled in the district. Just in the past decade, the district added 5,400 additional students.

Olentangy Schools is now the second-largest employer in the county with more than 3,000 employees.

"It does become more challenging, year over year, as our schools continue to grow," OLSD Superintendent Todd Meyer said.

The district is the fourth-largest district in Ohio, and as of this fall, the district will feature four large high schools and 28 total school buildings.

"We have some of the largest elementary, middle schools, and high schools by population in central Ohio and across the state,” Meyer said.

Olentangy Orange and Olentangy Liberty both house about 1,900 students. Olentangy and Olentangy Berlin have around 1,600 students. The district is interested in building a fifth high school, located in the northwest part of the district.  Several of the district's buildings are so crowded that modular classrooms have been added and several schools have switched to a staggered bell system to cut down on overcrowding in hallways.

"When we start school in the fall, we will be at or above capacity and over half of our elementary schools, three of our six middle schools, and three of our four high schools,” Olentangy Schools Chief Operations Officer Jeff Gordon said.

"For us to keep up with the growth in order to accommodate, we do need dollars to continue to educate,” Meyer said.

Funding is a major concern in the district right now. In March, voters rejected a school levy, as was the case for most districts in the state. OLSD reports it receives about $1,700 per student in state funding. The average funding per student throughout the state is about $6,000. 

Meyer said the school board is exploring its options, including a potential return to the ballot in November. A decision on that could be made in July.

"There is a thing called levy fatigue, when we continue to pass levy after levy after levy to help support the growth in the district,” Meyer said. "We've got to look at resource alignment, and again, we always look at how we can be more efficient within the district and be good stewards of the taxpayer dollars because they deserve that here in our community.”