Hundreds of students that once attended classes at Ross Intermediate School in Hamilton are being transferred to other schools in the district under a new plan approved by the Ross Local School District board at a Sept. 18 meeting.
Declining enrollment and “unpredictable funding conditions” were cited as catalysts for the new plan, the district stated in a release. The move comes amid ongoing debate about funding for Ohio’s public schools after the statehouse deviated from the bipartisan Fair School Funding Plan made four years prior with the passage of the 2026-27 state budget in June.
Under the grade realignment affecting the Boone County district, fourth grade students currently attending RIS will move to Morgan or Elda Elementary and fifth grade students will move to Ross Middle School. The change, impacting the approximately 340 students currently at RIS, goes into effect at the beginning of the 2026-27 school year.
“This was not a decision we took lightly, but one we felt was necessary to ensure the long-term stability of our district,” Ross’ school board president Greg Young said. “We believe this realignment is the right step to preserve the quality of education our families expect while preparing for ever-changing funding methods from the state.”
Superintendent Bill Rice said that the decision marks the district’s attempt to make sound financial decisions given the uncertainty surrounding the state’s Fair School Funding Formula, potential property tax reform and the district’s declining enrollment.
Students at Ross Local School District.
Total enrollment for the district rests at 2,294 according to state data from the 2024-25 school year. Years ago, the district hosted hundreds more students annually with 2,527 total enrollment for the 2022-23 school year and around the same total, 2,564 students, during the 2020-21 school year.
The Fair School Funding Formula, signed into law in 2021, overhauled the way the state approached public school funding after its long-standing prior model was deemed unconstitutional in 1997. It attempted to calculate the actual cost a district spends to educate every student, using measures like local property tax and income tax information to determine which communities had heartier sources of local revenue and which needed more dollars from the state.
This summer, the Republican-led state legislature strayed from that plan, allocating what some say are insufficient funds toward the over 3,000 public schools serving more than 1.5 million students across the state of Ohio.
“Everyone in public education is nervous about what’s coming out of Columbus,” Rice said, adding that the current state legislature lacks support for public education.
And though RIS was beloved, the school is a “luxury we can’t afford right now,” he explained.
A long-term use for the fourth and fifth grade school has yet to be finalized, but the district stated current plans include establishing a District Welcome Center and consolidated administrative offices there.
“We’re not just closing a building – we’re planning for the future, with care, strategy, and community partnership at the heart of everything we do,” the superintendent said in a public announcement.
Detailed plans regarding the facility’s future will be presented by early 2026.
Ross Local School District ranks as one of the best-performing districts in the region with an overall rating of 4.5 stars as of the recently released 2025 report cards by the Ohio Department of Education.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ross Local closes school, citing enrollment and funding issues