No questions or discussions.  Sent to vote.

Treasurer Schumacher reported as follows:

Our office is still extremely busy.  The audit is finished and filed with the Auditor of State, but has not been reviewed and posted to the Auditor of State website.  There were no findings and we will not have a Management Letter again this year.  Between the new software and COVID, we don’t seem to be able to get to much else in a day.  The migration to Redesign went well.  Kara and Mindy are both pleased with the software.  The biggest problem seems to be the reports.  It is very different and we are having to design our own reports.  It’s a learning curve, but we are getting better every day.

We have completed the five-year forecast.  The new software company has been great to work with and you will see in a little bit what they have to offer.

That being said, I have now completed the first 3 of my personal goals for this year.

As far as the Monthly Financials go, I don’t believe there is anything unusual to discuss. We have already discussed the Food Service situation many times and we will see how that plays out.  The only other item to point out is the negative expenditure in Supplies and Materials.  This is due to the recording of the uniform, t-shirt and sweatshirt inventories.  That is all for the October financials.

We did just receive word that we would be receiving GEER (Governor’s Emergency Education Relief) fund monies.  The estimate for Pioneer is $264,000.  This will add another Fund to our financials – Fund 508.  I have available for you to look at if you wish, a short description of uses for the funds.  This is not included in the 5 year forecast as the forecast was already complete when we received word of the GEER monies.  Any effect on the forecast will be shown in the May version.

FIVE-YEAR FORECAST

The five-year forecast itself still looks the same, but the assumptions and notes have a very different look.  My notes were always very simple and easy to understand.  With this new company, they provide a template for the notes.  It is much more in depth than what you are used to seeing. I would like you to look over the notes and let me know your thoughts.  We can very easily go back to the old style with the May forecast or we can continue with the new format also.  I did go through their original template and took out a lot of items that I felt were extreme overkill, but left many of the charts and history in these notes.  The basics that we normally discuss are still included.

The one item that I like best about this format is on page 4 of the Notes.  I picked out 5 top items in the forecast and narrated a short discussion. 

The first item discusses the difficulty of forecasting the valuations for Real Estate.  All are on different cycles of reappraisal and reappraisal updates.  This topic reiterates the graphs and discussion when we approve the tax rates and county budget. On page 6 you will see the valuations for each year as we would see in February in our discussion.

The second item is a discussion of the Rover pipeline which we have been sharing all along.  This again tells about the appeal and the effect it might have on Pioneer.

The third item points out the risk in State foundation revenues and how there will be 2 more State Budgets during this forecast.  I do want to point out that there is a huge push right now to get the new formula into law.  During the week of November 2, Senators Peggy Lehner and Vernon Sykes introduced SB 376 which is a companion bill to the original HB305 which is the Fair School Funding Plan.  Their hope is to get testimony and committees engaged in both bodies at the same time in order to save time and get the bill passed before the Holidays.  Timeline.

The fourth item discusses the current freeze on State funding.

The last item talks about Union relations and the upcoming negotiations in the Spring of 2021.

The first graphs on page 5 shows the General Fund Revenue, Expenditures and Cash Balance for this forecast.  As you can see, the ending balance begins to recede late in FY 22 and throughout the rest of the forecast.  The second graph shows the percentage of each revenue source in comparison to overall revenues. As you can see, Pioneer relies heavily on State revenues.  The next few pages of the Notes discuss valuations and estimated collections of Real Estate Taxes and PUPP taxes.  We expect to collect Real Estate taxes at 99% allowing for a 1% delinquency. Further discussion of the Rover pipeline is found on Line Item 1.020 and shows a $500,000 loss of revenue due to the pipeline appeal.

Line 1.035,1.040 and 1.045 – We have projected state aid flat through FY25.  Although there is great hope that the Fair Funding Formula will be passed, there is not enough to base future projections on.  Hopefully, in the May forecast we will be able to do that.

Expenditures – Line 3.01 -  Wages.  The forecast shows a 2% increase and steps in the FY21, a 1% increase and steps in FY22 and a 2% increase plus steps in FY23-25.

Line 3.02 – Benefits – Insurance increase are based on 8.5% increase in FY21 and 6% increase thereafter.  Although the Cadillac Tax was fully repealed, we will be keeping a close eye out for it to be reinstated in the coming year. This could have a major impact on Pioneer.

A 3% increase for Purchased Services and Supplies and Materials have been included in the Forecast.

One last item that has been added to the report is the graph on Ending Cash Balance in True Cash Days.  In other words, how many days could Pioneer operate at year-end if no additional revenues were received. The recommendation of the GFOA is no less than 60 days cash on hand at year-end.  In FY21, 60 days cash represents about $3.08M. 

Supervisor Clay Frye reported as follows:

Veterans Day Activities

• Cards/Pictures from ECE
• Post Cards to Veterans- school wide participation in “A Million Thanks”
• The Service Flag- symbol of a child in service displayed during duration of war or hostilities

Purple Star Breakfast

• 22 Pioneer students will attend breakfast for Military Connected Youth

SkillsUSA Virtual Fall Leadership

• 14 Pioneer students attended with 11 earning the 2020 Fall Leadership Statesman Award
  • Attend breakout sessions, complete SkillsUSA Knowledge workbook and complete all local Chapter requirements to be eligible
• Students from Galion, Willard, Busyrus, Wynford, Mansfield City, Madison and Plymouth

National Technical Honors Society

• 10 Seniors applied, 7 have been accepted and 1 student who did not meet the GPA requirement will have their status reevaluated in January
• Students from Ontario, Shelby, Lexington, Crestline and one Homeschooled student

Penny Drive/Food Drive

• Students will be encouraged to participate in both community outreach activities

Sophomore Visits/Spire

COVID Prevention Plan/Strategies/Staff Preparedness for Online

Board Goals

1. COVID Guidelines
2. Compassionate, responsive environment
3. Best Practices for health/safety
4. Challenge Staff to be innovative
5. Optimize resources

Mr. Grady spoke to the Board about the OSBA virtual Annual Membership meeting held on October 29, 2020.  Two changes in the OSBA Legislative Platform include the support of legislation to hold all types of schools as accountable as public schools and includes a statement supporting racial & social equality in all schools.

Superintendent Nickoli reported as follows:

A Records Commission Meeting was held prior to the Board of Education Meeting Monday evening starting at 6:30 pm.  The persons scheduled to attend were Doug Theaker, Board President; Greg Nickoli, Superintendent; Linda Schumacher, Treasurer; and Kara Rowlinson, Assistant Treasurer.  We reviewed the records that are outdated and can be destroyed.

A Finance Audit Committee Meeting was held at 6:45 pm prior to the Board of Education Meeting.  At this meeting we reviewed the five (5) year forecast.  The persons scheduled to attend are:  Doug Theaker, Board President; Margie Prater, Board Member; Bill Hope, Board Member, Greg Nickoli, Superintendent; and Linda Schumacher, Treasurer.

We’d like to thank Bill Hope for serving as our Voting Delegate at the OSBA Capital Conference this year.  Bill, do you have anything they would like to report from the conference this year?

Given our unusual circumstances and options available to us that have not existed previously there has been much discussion among local school districts about how to handle calamity days this year.  At this time it appears that nearly all of our Partner Districts will continue to have “snow days” as they have in the past.  This means that, for the first five “bad weather days” they will not have school, face-to-face or remote.  They will transition to Remote Learning Days should they need additional time beyond the five days.  At Pioneer, we used 11 ½ hours when we added additional Professional Development Days to our calendar to start the school year.  That means that we have 3 days of hours to use as Calamity Days.  Beyond that time, we will transition to Remote Learning Days.  We will treat our Calamity Days just as we have in the past.  Teachers will not report but our Administrators and Support Staff will report and work a five-hour day.   

One of the significant challenges that we are facing is how to conduct our student recruitment efforts during the pandemic.  Essentially, we have to prepare for three variations.  Some of our schools might be willing to send their Sophomores to us so long as they are the only school there and are socially distanced.  That’s what we know how to do and do very well.  Other schools will let us present to their Sophomores in-person.  We are working with Spire Advertising, out of Ashland, to create a “traveling road show,” as Mr. Vargyas calls it, to take to our Partner Schools and to make available on our website for students not attending school in-person.  As a part of that process, Spire is creating 37 videos, 1 that highlights Pioneer as a whole, 1 that shares a “day in the life of a student,” and a hype video for each of our 35 programs.  We are excited to have a tremendous product that we can use for years to come.

According to ORC 3313.14, we are supposed to have our organizational meeting on or before January 15^th.  I am suggesting that we use the date of Wednesday, January 13^th. This doesn’t conflict with your normal Board Meetings but it may if those dates move.  Please check your calendars so we can decide on the best date for the organizational meeting at our regular December meeting.

Update on Pioneer Veteran’s Day activities provided by Mr. Clay Frye

Our Cafeteria Staff, assisted by several other staff members, will be providing a Thanksgiving Luncheon, complete with Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Stuffing, Green Beans, a roll, and Pumpkin Pie to our students on November Tuesday, November 24^th.  The cafeteria and arena will be decorated with colorful placemats and centerpieces throughout.  Last year, the reaction of our students was priceless and made the extra work well worth the effort.

Unfortunately, we don’t feel that we are able to host our annual Holiday Open House this year.  Given the current Covid-19 restrictions we are not able to invite guests into the building.  It’s a cherished tradition and we certainly revive it next year.

PERSONNEL

Katie Getz                   – Request for Dock Leave

Jenifer Stewart            – Request for Dock Leave

Ariel Little                  – Request for Maternity Leave followed by a Leave of

Absence for the remainder of the 2020-2021 school year.

All other personnel recommendations are common for this time of year. 

Superintendent Nickoli discussed dock days for 2 teachers and Maternity leave for a classified employee.

No questions or discussion.  Sent to vote.

Motion made by Mary Dixon; seconded by Royden Smith to move into Executive Session at 8:24 pm.  Returned to Regular Session at 8:37 pm.