ASHTABULA TOWNSHIP — Thanks to closing Pierpont Elementary School this year and other cost-savings measures taken by the Buckeye Board of Education, the projected deficit by fiscal year 2013 has been whittled down to $5 million.
District Treasurer Sherry Wentworth presented a draft of the district’s five-year forecast to the board of education Monday night. The forecast, required by the state, projects district finances into the murky future, made even more uncertain by the recession and Gov. Ted Strickland’s proposed sweeping changes to how Ohio educates its children and pays for that education.
If the forecast proves accurate, the district will slip into a $1.3 million deficit in fiscal year 2012.
Wentworth’s projections take into account the likelihood of a lackluster increase in property values come the next triennial update in 2012. They also reflect the loss of tangible personal-property tax income, reduced income from interest, and the loss of $185,971 in electric deregulation reimbursement in 2009 and $325,000 in 2010. Buckeye was one of 18 districts eliminated from the reimbursement, which is determined by an eligibility calculation.
On the expenditures side, Wentworth projected a 6 percent increase for purchased services and 5 percent for supplies, which includes diesel fuel for the buses. Projected salaries are based on negotiated agreements in place through 2011. No increases were built into the projections beyond existing agreements.
Closing Pierpont is expected to result in a 3.5 percent savings in salaries and benefits, starting with 2010. The savings will be realized not so much through the reduction in force, but rather through attrition and reassignment of the former Pierpont teachers.
Nevertheless, the board took action Monday night to reduce staffing associated with the elementary school. Paul Buser, custodian at Pierpont Elementary, Edgewood and Braden, will be laid off effective June 20. Reduction-in-force measures were approved for Dennis Kortyka, elementary art; Maria Oblak, elementary music; and Shelley Monas, elementary physical education. Only Monas’ position was eliminated completely.
The board also voted not to renew extracurricular and special-fee assignments for Wendy Montello, Pierpont’s head teacher and elementary yearbook adviser; and Robin Holden, the school’s technology resource person.
Not related to the Pierpont closing, the board voted to a change in contract for the district’s family and consumer science teacher, Katherine Chongris, from full-time to 2/5 time.
Board member Mark Estock said the district has made tremendous strides in meeting its financial challenges and, as a result, will “have less of a problem ahead of us” in the coming five years.
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