CINCINNATI — City of Cincinnati tax abatement programs have cost Cincinnati Public Schools nearly $81 million — about $2,400 per student — over the last six years, according to a new study released on Monday.
The study by the nonprofit Good Jobs First also found that the city's residential tax abatement program, which had a greater benefit for wealthier, mostly white neighborhoods, cost the school district $41.5 million, about half of CPS's total loss.
"(CPS) students are disproportionately harmed by tax abatements," according to the study. "Compared to other major Hamilton County school districts, on an absolute and per-student basis, Cincinnati school children have lost significantly more revenue to tax breaks given in the name of economic development."
The study — paid for by the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers — also compared CPS to eight nearby school districts in Hamilton County.
"We found a disturbing pattern of race and income discrimination," Good Jobs First Director Greg LeRoy said.
The study found that abatement cost the three districts with majority non-white enrollment — Princeton, Winton Woods and CPS — more money than mostly white districts. CPS, which has a Black student enrollment of 78%, lost 23 times more funding per student than the mostly white school districts, according to the study.
On Monday, LeRoy told the CPS Board of Education that the district isn't complying with an accounting rule requiring more disclosure about the impact of abatements.
"You're disclosing some of the benefits," he said. "You're not disclosing gross or net costs."
CPS Treasurer Jennifer Wagner insisted that the district's losses due to abatement were significantly less than $80 million cited by the study.
"What they're considering a loss to the district is not cash loss to the district," she told the board. "So I think it's a little bit confusing."
The study was released weeks after Cincinnati City Council approved changes to the residential abatement program that offer more incentives to develop in lower-income neighborhoods.
But state Rep. Sedrick Denson said it doesn't go far enough. He's pushing for a charter amendment that limits residential tax abatements to people with lower incomes.
"This is all about coming up with a clear distinct way for all of us to make sure that our students and our school system is getting its fair share," said Denson.
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