January 2025 Regular Board of Education Meeting

Treasurer Bazley reported as follows:

Nothing groundbreaking in our financials. We are officially halfway through the fiscal year, which feels like it has flown by. The calendar year has been closed out and W2s and 1099s were delivered by NEONet last week and the W2s are available in Employee Self Service. Our revenues/expenses are a little under what we expected at this point in the fiscal year, but the general fund is still healthy at this point in the year. Revenue wise this is a slow time cash flow wise during the year, things will start to pick up in a month or two when we start receiving our real estate settlements. Interest continues to pay pretty well even with a few rate cuts. We made our COPS principal & interest payment in December and the final interest payment for the fiscal year will be made in June which is normal. I spoke with our Auditor this morning, the audit is still being finalized. They are awaiting on a SOC-1 audit report from JHP and going back in forth with Rea & Associates regarding how the OFCC Career Tech Expansion monies were classified in the GAAP report. At worst case scenario they may issue an additional “Management Comment Letter” along with the audit that essentially discloses they viewed the classification of those monies differently than our GAAP auditors. The good news is that it was still a clean audit with no findings of any kind.

January is the month to submit our County Budget.  We also have received updated tax rates and valuations from the County Auditor at this point. We have reached the 2 mill floor for our Class I valuations (Residential/Ag) which means we will now see more revenue growth from those taxes, unless of course the legislature decides to mess with the floors with their property tax relief. These graphs show how our valuations and levy monies affect our revenues, keep in mind these graphs are based on full valuation and full collection whereas our forecast does not include Rover due to the ongoing saga with appeals with them and we don’t estimate full collection of taxes. On our County Budget we go by our most recent forecast for real estate revenue, although we calculate our collection rate at 97% because that’s what it historically is and the County Auditor uses a 92% collection rate.

The county budget is our annual submission to Richland County for their approval at their Budget Commission meeting.  The first page shows the tax revenues calculated from our forecast as mentioned above.  This is the number from our most recently approved five year forecast in November. This will be submitted to the County Auditor after your approval.  The deadline is typically January 15^th which falls in line with the traditional district’s deadline for their organizational meeting, since ours occurs after that date I request and have been granted an extension to get it filed right after board approval.

The joint Property Tax Review/Reform Committee submitted their report with some dangerous recommendations including adding emergency/sub emergency levy millage to the 20 mill floor, limiting emergency levy term limits, limiting emergency levy money to actual emergencies, doing away with replacement levies, changing reappraisals/updates calculation periods, and more that would affect school funding. This will be something to monitor. Governor DeWine must release his initial budget at the end of January. Pew Charitable Trusts reported that States face most budget stress since the beginning of the Pandemic this cycle. Our new House Speaker Matt Huffman has already of course gone on record saying that FSFP is unsustainable, he of course did not speak to the sustainability of his pride and joy universal vouchers and its strain on the budget. In short, the state legislature wants to limit or decrease a district’s ability to raise revenue in the name of providing property tax relief and in the same breath want to cut our well thought out and equitable funding formula to reduce the amount they contribute to public education in the name of budget constraints, while the universal vouchers cost the government Billion(s) of dollars, when data shows that program is essentially providing a subsidy to the wealthy who were already sending their kids to private schools.

January is Board Appreciation Month, I just want to thank you all for your commitment to Pioneer and the time you take out of your schedule and to be Board Members. It can be a thankless job at times, and it’s not a job that you’ll make significant money doing, but you play a vital role at Pioneer. I appreciate the opportunity to work with all of you and your dedication and seriousness in which you take your role as Board Members.

Grant Brocwell was present as the EAP Representative

None. 

None. 

Director Frye reported as follows:

Pioneer will host Sophomore Visitation for all of our partner school sophomores on January 28th and 29th. Following the visitation days, we will host our Sophomore Open House on Thursday, January 30th from 6:00-8:00pm. Sophomores and their parents can visit labs, meet with instructors and tour Pioneer to assist in choosing a potential lab for the 2024-2025 school year. Just under 1300 sophomores are scheduled to visit over the 2 days.

In preparation for Sophomore Visitation, associate school principals and school counselors will meet at Pioneer on January 23rd for a breakfast meeting. Information about sophomore visits and student badges for visitation days were distributed.

Pioneer’s HOSA, SkillsUSA and Cyberpatrior student organizations are competing in  regional competitions in the coming weeks. Many of our students will advance to state contests which are held in the Spring.

Mr. Grady discussed the elimination of the Social Security Windfall Provision and the impact that could have on our recruitment of Career Tech teachers as they won't suffer a loss of potential Social Security benefits in retirement. 

Superintendent Nickoli reported as follows:

I would like to congratulate our new and re-appointed Board Members.  Our newest Board Member is Mr. Chris Rothhaar who was appointed by the Willard City Schools where he is employed by Pepperidge Farms.  I’d also like to welcome Mr. Douglas Theaker, Mr. Bill Hope, Mrs. Erin Stine, and Mr. Bill McFarland from the Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center and Mr. Dennis Long from the Galion City Schools and Mrs. Robin Almanson from the Crestline Exempted Village Schools as they all return for new three-year terms.  Congratulations and thank you for your service to the students and staff at Pioneer.

January is Board of Education Appreciation Month, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your continued support of our students and staff. You are to be commended for the progress that Pioneer has made toward increasing student learning and improving student achievement.  Also, in recognition of that service is a certificate presented by the Ohio School Boards Association signed by Sally Green, OSBA President and Dr. Kathy McFarland, OSBA Chief Executive Officer.  

I am asking you to approve an agreement with Crestline Exempted Village Schools for Bus Driver Certification.  In order to properly certify Bus Drivers, current drivers need a minimum of two (2) hours of driving with an On-Board Instructor (OBI) and new drivers need a minimum of twelve (12) hours of driving with the OBI.  Crestline has a properly trained On-Board Instructor who will meet this requirement for our drivers.

I am asking you to approve the attached list of new and revised courses for the 2025-2026 school year.  Currently, our students have a very limited selection of elective offerings available to them during their time at Pioneer.  Mr. Frye and our high school instructors have worked to create elective offerings that are both attractive and advantageous to our students.  They have selected History of American Sports, Entertainment History, World War 2, A Comprehensive Study, Forensic Science, and Workforce Readiness as new courses. 

I am also asking that you approve the transition of our Homeland Security Career-Technical Program to the previously discussed First Responders Program and that you approve the revision of our elective course, The 60’s, to a semester course from its current yearlong status. 

Finally, we would like to change the names of Life Skills and Own Your Own Business to Adulting 101 and Entrepreneurship, respectively.  The curriculum will not change but it is our hope that these name changes will be more attractive to students.  

To date, Pioneer has used four (4) full Calamity Days and five (5) Delays.  Given our student day length of 5.75 hours (6.25 minus a thirty-minute lunch) we have used 33 hours meaning that we have one (1) Calamity Day and three (3) two-hour delays available to us.  Should we exceed our Calamity Days, we will implement the three (3) Online Learning Days permitted by the July Board Resolution.  We will be communicating those plans early next week to both teachers and students.

Important Calendar Dates upcoming are as follows:

January 28 & 29       - New Student Visitation

January 30                - Open House

February 5                 - Ohio ACTE Legislative Conference

February 6 & 13       - Parent-Teacher Conferences

I am asking that you approve the Unpaid Leave Request for Mr. Matt Dotson, Ag Instructor at Lucas.  As you can see in the letter he submitted, he will be using his two remaining Personnel Days to attend an out-of-state wedding but needs to be absent from school for three days.  He previously used a Personal Day to attend the funeral of a former student.

All other personnel items are common for this time year.

No discussion - Moved to Vote

No Discussion - Moved to vote

No Discussion - Moved to Vote