No questions. No discussion. Sent to vote. 

Treasurer Schumacher reported as follows: No big news or anything different in the monthly financials this month.  Interest continues to pay well.  We have filed the PCR’s for Perkins and ECE. We held the Records Commission annual meeting and the Finance Committee meeting before this meeting.  The Records commission approved the records retention schedule and the disposal of records. The Finance Committee heard a short narrative on the five-year forecast.

We have spent about $13,000 of the $16,000 in the ARP Homeless Grant.  We have decided to wait until the Grant is completely spent and then file the PCR for full payment of the $16,000.00.

Dinsmore Legal is telling us that we have to leave everything but the interest in the 010 fund.  That amount is $282,179.45 leaving $915,136.60.  Luckily, we have the new project coming up.  We have to place $480,000.00 of this remaining balance in a Special Cost Center in the 010 fund tagged specifically for the new project.  The remainder we can use for relocating the Maintenance Department.  We have been informed that we have to create a new fund 495 to record the New Career Tech Construction monies. Fund 495 will be used for the State portion and Fund 010 will be used for our portion.  We are also required to change the name of the 010 from OSFC – State/LFI to Facilities Improvements

We are presenting for your approval a new Salary Schedule for the Confidential employees – Assistant Treasurer, Payroll Clerk and Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent.  While attempting to hire a payroll clerk, we discovered we needed to revamp our salary structure for these staff members.  We were turned down a total of 4 times by 3 people, so we decided to take a look at the salary schedules.  We chose to increase their index in order to attract qualified candidates.  We now have a qualified payroll clerk candidate for your approval.  We are thrilled with her qualifications.  She comes from NCOCC which is now NeoNet.  She has a plethora of knowledge about State Software and previously did payroll at Crestview School District.

Big discussions concerning HB187 are taking place.  Will Vorys spoke at a meeting that Gavyn and I attended last week and he seems to think that nothing will happen until the next biennial.  This is the bill that would average the home valuations over 3 years due to the large increase in valuations recently.  County Auditors are opposing this for the most part because they don’t want it enacted immediately.  To do that would mean tax bills may not go out until May and tax collections would then be received by the school in August compared to March.  Cash flow could be a problem for many. We just received a notice this morning that we could expect a revision to the bill after Thanksgiving break that would not address the 3-year average, but would expand the Homestead exemption.

We have presented for your approval the adoption of a new HRA plan for retiring administrators.  The plan requires that they deposit 30% of their severance pay into the HRA plan.  We hope that the full staff will eventually want to participate in a similar plan. 

We have one journal entry to move the expenses originally posted to Maintenance expense for the Ready Room into that grant.

The auditors are still working on our audit, but have promised to have it filed before the middle of December.

Treasurer Bazley reported as follows: We have 4 main topics affecting our five-year forecast. 

1.Collecting taxes in eight different counties is always a challenge.  We have eight counties in three different reappraisal cycles.  So, it is always a challenge to determine increase and decrease in values.  Currently projecting 7% for FY24 and 6% for FY25.

2.Rover pipeline is still unsettled. Taxing authorities billed Rover based on the valuation established by the Ohio Department of Taxation.  Rover’s first appeal to lower the valuation by 47% was denied.  Rover has made payments based on the appealed valuation, which in tax year 2020 was approximately $90 million lower than the value established by the Ohio Department of Taxation. Since the pipeline began making payments based on the decreased valuation in FY20, the school district has received approximately $790 thousand less than billed. Rover has submitted a second appeal requesting values to be decreased by 38%, and the forecast assumes their appeal is won and the district only receives the lower 38% valuation. The appeal was scheduled to be heard by the Bureau of Tax Appeals beginning on May 9, 2022, and then again in August, 2022, but has been continued, and has not been remanded back to the Tax Commissioner. If the appeal is denied, the district will receive delinquent tax payments for the amounts owed by Rover. Due to the uncertainty surrounding the appellate decision, this is not assumed in the calculations of this forecast at this time.

3.HB 33 continues to phase in the FSFP for FY24 and FY25. FY24 reflects 50% of implementation cost at year three of the six year phase in plan, which increases by 16.66% each year. FY25 will result in 66.66% of funding for FSFP, but the final two years are not guaranteed. We have used the most recent simulations published as well as the October settlement which reflects the most recent enrollment data. We are on the formula for this biennium and should be if the plan is fully implemented in future years, although with the phase in percentages we are not being funded at 100% of the calculated funding we should be receiving.

4.Negotiations will begin again in the Spring of 2024.  This is always a challenge in itself.  We will have a better picture once we, hopefully have a new 3-year contract. The forecast projects a 3% base increase along with the 3% average step increase.

Revenues.  State sources provide 64% of our total revenues.  Local sources provide 36%.  We have projected FY24 State funding on the October 2023 foundation settlement and funding factors.  In other words, this is based on the most current information we have.

We estimate tax levies to be collected at 97% of the annual amount.  This is based on historical data.  Of course, there is always Rover.

Expenditures.  We use 83.8% of our expenditures for Salaries and benefits.  This is not out of line for the norm.  Salaries and benefits usually range from 80 to 85% in school districts.  We have provided for base increase of 3% for the life of the forecast. This line amount also includes an average 3% step increase.  I believe in upcoming forecasts this step increase will grow due to the large staff turnover in the past couple and a few future years.  The insurance projections include the 4% increase for FY24 and 8% for FY25-26, and 10% for FY27-28.

For purchased services and Materials and Supplies, we have provided for a 5% increase in these costs for FY24-25 and a 3% increase in these costs for FY27-28.

No questions. No discussion. Sent to vote. 

Director Frye reported as follows: Pioneer’s Veterans Day Assemblies took place on November 10th- assemblies were held in the morning and afternoon to allow all Pioneer students to attend. Keynote speaker for both assemblies was Mr. Doug Theaker, Pioneer Board of Education President. Pioneer’s National Technical Honor Society students assisted with the planning of the assembly under the guidance of Social Studies instructor Robin Hager and Career Development staff member Vickie Hunt. Students from Pioneer’s NTHS leadership team were the emcee’s of the assembly, Homeland Security and Criminal Justice students led the Presentation of Colors, our Media Communications students created a video thanking veterans, and Performing Arts students sang the National Anthem.

Pioneer recently participated in numerous activities that helped connect our students and staff with our community-

                Live and Learn

Trips to Fisher Titus Medical Center, Ronald McDonald House and Gorman Rupp

Speakers from Kenworth, Lincoln Tech and Universal Technical Institute

Pioneer’s Automotive Technology program has completed its 5-year ASE recertification. This allows our program to issue high school level ASE certifications for students who meet the qualifications and pass the tests.

Pioneer’s Thanksgiving Feast will take place tomorrow for all of our students. A traditional thanksgiving meal will be prepared and served to students. Meat and Animal Science, Culinary Arts and our Cafeteria Staff work hard to make this meal possible, and Pioneer administrators and office staff serve dessert to students as well.

Mr. Grady reported on the OSBA Business Meeting. Governor DeWine spoke first and adjustments were made to the Legislative Platform for OSBA. 

A Records Commission Meeting was held prior to the Board of Education Meeting Monday evening starting at 5:30 pm.  The persons scheduled to attend were Doug Theaker, Board President; Greg Nickoli, Superintendent; Linda Schumacher, Treasurer; Gavyn Bazely, Treasurer; and Kara Rowlinson, Assistant Treasurer.  We reviewed the records that are outdated and can be destroyed.

A Finance Committee Meeting was held at 5:45 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; Spencer Shipman, Board Member; Bill Hope, Board Member, Greg Nickoli, Superintendent; and Linda Schumacher, Treasurer.

As a reminder, Pioneer’s Career-Tech Expansion Grant Proposal was selected to be funded from the 200 million that was set aside in the most recent State Budget.  Pioneer will receive 6.6 million dollars to renovate our Maintenance Building, turning it into an Advanced Manufacturing Center housing a second Welding Lab, our Precision Machining Lab, and our Industrial Maintenance Lab.  The space vacated by our Precision Machining Lab will house an Electrical Trades program.  These additions will add 100 slots for new students. 

The first steps are for the Board to accept the and for our Board President, our Treasurer, and myself to electronically sign the acceptance document. 

As reminder, the Board is committed to committing $480,000 aside for any contingencies.  Also, the project will cause us to relocate our maintenance staff so we will need to build, at a cost to the District, a new facility for our maintenance staff.  I will update you more as we engage a design team.

As a part of this project, I am asking that you approve the Cullimore Law Firm as our Construction Counsel for this project.  Mr. Cullimore was or legal counsel for the recently closed out, although it started in 2009, renovation project and subsequent legal action that ensued.  He was also our representative during the HVAC replacement project that was completed in 2018.  I have full confidence that he will provide sound legal advice as we navigate this project.

The recent Budget Bill replaced Blizzard Bags with Online Learning Days as an option for making up educational hours.  You might remember that our School Calendar indicates that we will observe 5 calamity days without making up the time.  Days 6, 7, and 8 will be made up as online days.  The document that was shared outlines the expectations for those days.  This will help ensure that we meet the minimum 1,001 hours of instruction without adding additional days to our school year.

Our Social Studies Department, led by Social Studies Teacher Robin Hager, and several programs did an excellent job remembering our veterans the week of Veterans Day.  I am proud to report that our students were not only well-behaved but also showed great reverence for the service of our Veterans.  Thank you to Mr. Theaker and Mr. Long for attending and to Mr. Theaker for severing as our keynote speaker for the event. 

Tuesday, November 21^st, we will be holding our annual Thanksgiving Lunch complete with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, a vegetable and pumpkin pie for dessert.  Please feel free to join us as we celebrate the holiday with our students. 

As in past years, I am suggesting that we move our January Organizational and the regular January meeting to a date near the middle of the month.  We will have to take into consideration, the date of the Bucyrus City Schools Board Meeting since their Mrs. Jones term is up this year.  I’d tentatively suggest we move this year’s January meeting to January 10^th.  I’ll have more information from Bucyrus but please check your calendars so we can decide on the best date for the organizational meeting at our regular December meeting.

• 11/21 – Thanksgiving Luncheon for Students
• 12/18 – Board Holiday Dinner provided by Culinary Arts Students
• • We will have the dinner immediately following the December Board Meeting which will be held in the Pioneer Room.
• 12/21 – Holiday Open House

Shelly Ackley, who submitted her retirement resignation earlier this year, is requesting several days of Dock Leave.  Unfortunately, she has an unforeseen medical issue and does not have enough Sick Leave to cover her anticipated absences.

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

No discussion. No questions. Sent to vote. 

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