Here’s The Best School District In Ohio: Report

The Ottawa Hills Local School District in suburban Toledo has been ranked as the best school system in Ohio in a new report. The online financial news site 24/7 Wall St. analyzed graduation rates, amount of money spent per student and other data to determine the best school district in each state.

The Ottawa Hills school system has 925 students and spends $14,222 per student, the analysis found. The high school graduation rate is 94.7 percent and 75.6 percent of adults have a bachelor's degree.

The company evaluated the districts by creating an index based on data in the following categories:

• child poverty
• spending per student
• graduation rate
• teachers per student
• percentage of adults with a bachelor’s degree
• preschool enrollment
• Advanced Placement enrollment

Several school districts in the United States spend more than $50,000 per student on education each year, 24/7 Wall St. said, but others spend less than $2,000 per student.

“That difference in spending contributes to major disparities in student outcomes throughout the country,” the authors wrote. “The majority of a school’s budget is spent on staff and teacher salaries. A school that is able to attract the best teachers can give their students a major advantage.”

Indeed, wealthier areas often reap those rewards.

Local sources, including property taxes, account for about 44 percent of all school funding in the U.S. This means most of the best school districts are located in affluent counties where the majority of households earn more than double that of a typical American household.

In Lucas County, which includes the Ottawa Hills Local School District, the median household income from 2012-2016 was $$42,917 — much lower than the national average of $55,322, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Ottawa Hills, however, is an affluent community within Lucas County.

The nationwide rankings report, published on Monday, follows a January report from the same site that found Ohio ranked 22nd in the country for best schools.

Here’s a breakdown of schools in Ohio, according to 24/7 Wall St.:

• High school graduation rate: 83.5 percent (22nd lowest)
• Public school spending: $12,543 per pupil (23rd highest)
• 8th grade NAEP proficiency: 35.4 percent (math) 35.5 percent (reading)
• Adults with at least a bachelor’s degree: 27.5 percent (14th lowest)
• Adults 25-64 with incomes at or above national median:50.4 percent (24th lowest)

"A strong early childhood education is generally good policy as cognitive stimulation at a young age can greatly increase an individual’s chances of success later in life," noted The 24/7 Wall St. authors noted in the January report. "In Ohio, there is apparent room for improvement. Only 44.4 percent of 3- and 4-year olds in the state are enrolled in pre-K, compared the 47.7% enrollment rate nationwide."

Even so, public school students in Ohio outperform their peers nationwide in several measures, and more likely to be proficient in reading and math than the typical fourth or eighth grader nationwide, 24/7 Wall St. authors wrote.

Patch reporter Dan Hampton contributed to this report.
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