May 2020 Regular Board of Education Meeting

No questions.  No discussion.  Sent to vote.

Jefferson Health Plan – Normally we would have ask for approval of the new rates for FY21 at this meeting, but we did not get final approval until after we released the Board agenda, so we will be asking you to approve those rates in June.  The original, proposed increase from JHP was 14.6%.  I asked that we receive only an 8.5% increase and JHP eventually approved that rate.  As always, they gave their warning that not taking the entire increase could cause future year increases to be extremely high.  We have had over $1.2 dollars in our Reserve for over 5 years.  This month’s balance (April) is $1.56M. Our current suggested reserve will be $854,740 for FY21. Therefore, we chose to take the 8.5% increase.

 

No actions on the investment this month.  We did get that last CDAR monies deposited to Star Ohio who is paying .72% which is above CDAR rates.

 

070 account – We have contacted Desmond Cullimore to discuss our options at this point with the pending lawsuit.  My initial question to him was if we could ask the OFCC or the Attorney General’s office to share in 75/25 split of the cost we have incurred with Mr. Cullimore from January 1, 2020 and beyond. He told us that it is not the practice of those offices to share in the cost of legal fees for the district.  Mr. Cullimore has been doing a tremendous amount of work for the AG’s office between Discovery processes, bringing new legal counsel up to date as old ones leave the AG’s office and assisting with information abandoned by engineering firms.  He gave us different options on what to do, but for now we are just asking that they pick up the 75/25 split.

 

We don’t have much going on in the general fund at this point.  Some of the expenditures are at 100% with 2 months left, but at this point with our personnel services and benefits consuming 82% of our budget, these other line items are not a huge concern.  Some of those expenses will be transferred into the Wellness funds at year-end, and some of those expenses are due to the change to online learning.

 

Five-year forecast

 

Once again, I will remind you to read the notes to the Forecast for a better understanding.  That being said, this time it is a little tough to understand the forecast, as we don’t know from day to day what is going to happen. Our “rainy day fund” will definitely begin to decrease in the next few years.

 

In this forecast, we have projected a 5% decrease in property tax collections for FY21 and another 3% decrease in collections in FY22. FY23 and beyond include a slight valuation increase and an increase in collections due to the collection of delinquent taxes.

 

Rover pipeline – As we have discussed previously, Rover has submitted an appeal for the valuation of the second half of the line which included transfer stations.  The Ohio Department of Taxation has state that it is their intention to have a ruling by June 30.  This ruling will most likely deny the appeal.  I am sure this will not be the end of the appeal process and this could go on for quite some time (although no one has yet put a timeline on the situation.)  If you remember last year, Rover paid their entire tax bill in the March payment and stated it was their intention to do the same in following years.  It is our understanding that Rover paid 50%, but that 50% was based on the full value.  When they make their payment in July, it will be based on paying the taxes they feel that the owe.  So basically, they have figured the amount they feel they owe and will subtract the first half settlement and pay the difference in July.  The payment in July will be significantly lower than the March payment.

 

Unrestricted Grants-in-Aid

JVSD’s were not included in the initial budget cuts by the Governor due to the Maintenance of Efforts requirement in order for the State to receive Carl Perkins funding from the federal government.  Since this is another “we are not sure what is going to happen going forward”, we have budgeted for the recommended 10% cut in FY21 State foundation funding.  We have also included a 5% additional cut for FY22. Then in FY23, we show a leveling of funding going forward.

We have used the same model as we used for unrestricted funding for restricted funding. 

 We have made 2 major changes in expenditures –

The projection for salaries has been changed in FY22-24 to 1% raise with steps instead of 2% raise with steps.

The projection for health insurance has been changed to reflect the 8.5% increase in health insurance for FY21.

Other than these two expenditure lines, we have not made any major changes. 

Greg and I have begun the talks of what we might need to be cut and what we are able to cut.  I believe we will need a lot of input and suggestions in the months to come as we make our way through all of the “what ifs”.

We will hopefully have a little better picture in July as more decisions are made by the Governor and legislature.  Then by the time the November forecast is due to be submitted, hopefully we will have a better understanding of how all of this is going to effect the economy in the next few

Mr. Grady shared the news that Governor DeWine will not be using any of the State "rainy Day" funds for FY20.

Superintendent Nickoli reported as follows:

As usual, this is a very busy time of the year with all the end-of-year responsibilities, however, much of our work is being done remotely and it is unlike anything we’ve done before.

First, I have provided you with a copy of our Re-Entry Protocols.  These are the expectations for staff as they resume work at Pioneer on an as-needed basis.

Secondly, our Re-Entry Timeline is as follows:

           

• May 4       - Custodial Staff returned to deep clean the entire building.
• May 11     - Cafeteria Staff returned to begin locker clean out
• May 11     - All Staff may return to complete end-of-year tasks

  as-needed

• June 1      - All Staff resumes regular work hours at Pioneer

 

Please note that all staff will observe Re-Entry Protocols at all times.

I am asking you to approve a pay resolution, retroactive to March 17, authorizing the Treasurer to pay all Classified Staff Members based on the regular compensation or schedule they would have worked had we not had the Covid-19 State of Emergency Closure.

I have provided three notices of reductions in force and grace periods (labs split out with or without prep period pay depending on enrollment numbers) for next year.  These are the notices that were delivered:

 

PROGRAM	TEACHER	TYPE OF LETTER	DESCRIPTION
Masonry	Grant Brocwell	RIF	3rd Year Grace Split NO 1/8 pay 12 – 1st year 9 – 2nd year
Meat and Animal Science	Phil Johnson	RIF	Combined With no 1/8 pay 8 – 1st year 7 – 2nd year
Web Page Design	Marianne Ritchie	RIF	1st Year Grace Split WITH 1/8 pay 7 – 1st year 11 – 2nd year

Although these RIF letters are delivered by April 30^th, all enrollments for these programs will be reviewed prior to the October Board of Education Meeting and final recommendations will be made at that time.  The on-campus projected enrollment is once again well over 1,200.  Additionally, we have 11 applications for students that have yet to be placed and we will continue to accept applications through the summer. 

The Maintenance Building roof replacement is coming along well, weather notwithstanding.  CRM is doing an outstanding job and their Lead, who also led our roof replacement during the renovation, is someone we have great confidence in.  We are hoping for dry weather in the coming weeks so we can get the project done prior to summer months.    

 

May 26-May 28        – Chromebook/Textbook Turn in / Locker Contents Return

June 1 – June 5       – Staff Committee Work Days

June 4                        – Awards Video Release via Youtube

June 6                       – Senior Moments Video Release via Youtube

Week of June 8        – Summer Hours Begin (Continue for 8 weeks)

June 8 & 9                 – Career Passport Distribution

 

PERSONNEL

 

I am recommending the hiring of Kevin Vargyas as our new Career-Tech Supervisor.  Mr. Vargyas comes to us from Cuyahoga Falls High School where he was an Assistant Principal and served as the building liaison to the Six-District Career-Technical Compact.  Mr. Vargyas stood out in both rounds of interviews in large part because of his energy and passion for students as well as his knowledge of Career-Technical Education.  We are excited to have him join our Administrative Team and I know he will be a tremendous addition to Pioneer.

 

All other personnel items are common for this time year.

No questions.  No discussion.  Sent to vote.

No questions.  No discussion.  Sent to vote.

No questions.  No discussion.  Sent to vote.

No questions.  No discussion.  Sent to vote.