Hamilton City Schools is preparing to make big changes for fall 2026.
Earlier this month, the school district announced a plan to cut its operating costs by nearly $10 million over the next few years, almost 8% of its total budget. That plan includes closing its standalone campus for freshmen and one of its elementary schools; reorganizing and outsourcing its preschool program; adjusting its nursing services; and moving some schools into different buildings. Also included is a reduction of more than 150 employees.
For the 2026-2027 school year, Hamilton Schools will transfer students from its freshman campus to the main Hamilton High School campus to form a unified school for grades 9 through 12.
Superintendent Andrea Blevins told the Board of Education in mid-January that the merger of the two schools would be a more effective use of the district's buildings and cut down on personnel costs.
"Now that we have the room at Hamilton High School, we would like to combine those two," Belvins said. "Most of the savings here are those overhead costs. We don't need as many admin to run one high school, as opposed to two separate buildings."
At the moment, the district operates eight elementary schools, but that number will drop to seven when Fairwood Elementary closes in the fall. Students currently attending Fairwood will be redistributed to Bridgeport, Riverview and Crawford Wood elementary schools.
Hamilton Schools currently offers free preschool at six of its eight elementary schools, but will consolidate and move the program into the former Fairwood building. Rather than Hamilton Schools running the program, the new preschool will be operated by the Butler County Educational Service Center (BCESC) and will remain free to families.
The BCESC also will take over the school district's nursing services. The district says the plan is to have nursing services in every school building.
What's changing
Wilson Middle School will move into the former freshman campus building. District administrators say Wilson currently is overcrowded, and the move to the freshman campus will give the school more classroom space.
The district's alternative educational offering for middle and high school students, the Miami School, will move into the Wilson Middle School building. About 150 non-traditional students currently attend the school. Once students are moved out of the facility, the district will likely sell the old Miami School building.
Some of the largest cost savings for the school district will come in the form of job cuts. Hamilton Schools plans to eliminate 153 positions across the board this summer. That includes dozens of teachers, some administrative staff, nurses, clerical workers, food service and custodial workers, transportation employees and some school safety positions like school resource officers. In total, that's just over 12% of the school district's workers.
Belvins said the job cuts are a painful but necessary step.
"We need every position in this district. However, this plan that we've put together, we hope you will see, is doing its best to try to minimize impact to our students," she said.
Despite the overhaul, Belvins claims the school district doesn't have any plans to place a new levy on the ballot anytime soon. Rather, the staff cuts and reorganization of schools are designed to prepare the district to weather future financial storms, like further cuts to state funding and property tax reform. Still, if funding for the district continues to slide, a levy could appear on local ballots in the next few years.
"In a number of years, if this landscape does not change in public education, we're going to need some community support on this," Belvins said.
Hamilton City Schools plans to provide more updates on the transition in the coming months.
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