Getting It Right! For Ohio's Future

Common Terms

Millage/mills
The rate used in calculating taxes based on property value. One mill equals one-tenth of 1 percent.

Inside mills
The amount of unvoted millage a school district is permitted to assess. This type of millage does benefit from increases in property value, since it is not reduced over time as is voter-approved millage.

Outside/voted mills
Millage approved by school district voters.

Effective mills
Refers to the reduction in voted millage over time to collect specific amount of revenue designated at time of millage issue passage, rather than taxing at a set rate.

House Bill 920
Ohio law passed in 1976 and ratified to the constitution in 1980 that prohibits the collection of inflationary increases in revenue from voter-approved millage.

Phantom revenue
Local school district revenue as recognized by Ohio school funding formula based on current property values, usually higher than actual school district revenue because the school funding formula does not recognize that schools do not receive inflationary increases when local property values rise.

DeRolph v. State of Ohio
Landmark case resulting in four Ohio Supreme Court rulings declaring Ohio school funding formula unconstitutional.

Categorical expenditures
Refers to expenditures required by local school districts beyond the base formula amount. Examples of categorical expenditures include special education, vocational education, gifted education and transportation.

High quality public education
Collectively, all of those educational components, programs and services necessary to prepare each public school pupil to carry out the duties of citizenship and to function at the highest level of his or her abilities in post-high school academic programs or gainful employment.