State lends $430,000 to Huron school district

1/27/2005

HURON, Ohio - The state Controlling Board has agreed to lend $430,000 to the Huron City Schools to help the financially strapped district pay its bills for the rest of this academic year.

The advance from the Ohio Department of Education's solvency assistance fund is interest-free. Huron schools will repay the money in the next two years through reductions in state aid.

The Erie County district was placed under Ohio's fiscal emergency designation in May after officials projected a deficit of more than $1.6 million by the end of June, 2005. Budget cuts, some of them recommended by the state auditor's office, have trimmed that shortfall.

District officials say they need more money to avoid deficits and will ask voters to approve an operating levy in May.