Five Year Financial Forecast

Forest Hills’ five-year forecast is a planning document that helps with fiscal management and accountability by showing historical and projected revenue and expenses, or a five-year projection of school district operational revenues and expenditures. The five-year forecast requires district management to evaluate potential long-term outcomes when making current financial decisions regarding new programs and funding existing programs.

In a financial forecast, the numbers only tell a part of the story. For the numbers to be meaningful, the reader must review and consider the underlying footnotes and explanations before drawing conclusions or using the data as a basis for other calculations. The footnotes are very important to understanding the rationale of the numbers, particularly when a significant increase or decrease is reflected.

• Five-Year Forecast (ending in 2029)
• Five-Year Forecast Board Presentation Slides November 2024
• Video of Treasurer Cropper's Presentation to the Board of Education
• How to Read a Five-Year Forecast (tips and explanations on understanding a school district's forecast from the Ohio Department of Education)
• Hamilton County School Districts Comparable Financial Statistics (Fiscal Year 2023)

PURPOSES OF THE FIVE-YEAR FORECAST

There are at least three purposes or objectives of the five-year forecast:

1. To engage the local board of education and the community in long range planning and discussions of financial issues facing the school district

2. To identify future year’s deficit to allow districts to engage in planning for those conditions prior to their arrival and eliminate projected deficit

3. To provide a method for the Department of Education and Auditor of State to identify schools districts with potential financial problems

REQUIREMENTS

Ohio Revised Code and Ohio Administrative Code require Boards of Education to submit a five-year projection of operational revenues and expenditures along with assumptions to the Department of Education prior to Oct. 31 of each fiscal year and to update this forecast between April 1 and May 31 of each fiscal year. ODE encourages school districts to update their forecast whenever events take place that will significantly change the forecast.