August 2025 Regular Board of Education Meeting

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Treasurer Bazley reported as follows:

No change in interest rates yet. At their July meeting the Fed had their first dissent since 1993, the two members dissented on holding interest rates steady. Experts think this strengthens the consensus that the Fed will cut rates by at least a quarter point at their September meeting. We have closed the Park National OSFC account that we had to keep those dollars in separately. With the project being closed out it was no longer needed, that money was transferred to operating and that account will no longer be active. With July being the first month of the fiscal year and during the summer there isn’t usually a whole lot of activity. The most significant difference from last July to this July is that we received Crawford’s real estate settlement in July last year and this year we didn’t receive any settlements until August.

With the new budget our State Foundation payment for July reflected updated valuation and income data utilizing the most recent tax data (for the state side). Phase-In Percentage of FSFP to 83.33% The new $3 per ADM career awareness and exploration funding. Updated Base Cost inputs. In October we’ll see a new weighted economically disadvantaged percentage (75% final FY25 ED ADM and 25% FY26 Direct Cert ED ADM), base cost funding supplement of $27 per student, Base Cost and State Share alignment (ours did not change much), and our enrollment funding will be updated based on current enrollment rather than the previous year’s.

Wednesday last week the Ohio Supreme Court affirmed the Board of Tax Appeals’ $3.67 billion valuation for the 700-mile Rover Pipeline. The owners had argued the valuation was only $1.79 billion. There was no settlement in place to revert to as with Nexus, so it will take some time before we will see any of the delayed tax money. The Department of Taxation and affected County Auditors will have to reconcile the difference between Rover’s prior payments to date plus interes. A huge win for school districts since the state was factoring in the full valuation in determining a district’s wealth or local capacity and those districts were receiving only what Rover determined their value at (less than half). So those districts looked richer to the state without actually being as rich as the state said because they were getting settlement payments based on what Rover valued their pipeline.

With the change of the Forecasting requirements in the Biennial Budget, for FY26 the Forecast must be approved prior to October 15, 2025 and then February 2026. We are required to submit current and three year projections rather than the current plus four year projections. Starting in FY2027 they must be approved by the end of August and end of February. On the agenda is a resolution essentially saying I will continue to provide a five year forecast the way I always have, but we will only submit to DEW what they require, the current budget plus three years. The notes to the assumptions will include that extra year that has been on in the past as the state does not regulate the assumptions/notes to the forecast. With that said, I will bring the forecast for your approval to our next Board Meeting, September, for approval to submit to DEW before the deadline. This is easier than asking to move the October Board meeting as it’s not scheduled until after the October 15th deadline. We will have our records commission meeting at 5:30 and our finance committee meeting at 5:45 prior to our September meeting. I will also ask the approval of our permanent appropriations for the fiscal year at next month’s Board Meeting.

One of the things we talked about during my interview was the plan to expand on some of the things already in place with SCView. At the end of the school year we rolled out a new feature of sending out contracts and salary notices electronically where teachers could view and then sign from an email. Today we rolled out a feature where teachers can submit requisitions into SCView through a link rather than filling out a paper form and turning it in to their supervisor to be entered into the system by a secretary. This should help us turn around requisitions even quicker and make our processes more efficient.

Director Frye discussed the 2025-2026 Board Goals that were on the agenda for Board Approval. 

Board Member Mike Grady reported as follows:

Both the Ohio House and the Ohio Senate are not scheduled to reconvene until September 23.  I will note that both chambers include the phrase “If needed” for those dates on their posted calendars.  While the House overrode the governor’s veto of one provision of the state budget, the Senate has not indicated when they may attempt any veto override votes.

Superintendent Nickoli reported as follows:

New School Year
Our entire staff is very excited for the start of the new school year. The Administrative Staff
put together what proved to be an outstanding return to school protocol. Welcome Week
and our first three teacher days were as smooth and well-organized as any I can
remember. Our sixteen new staff members were welcomed to Pioneer last Thursday and
Friday and our returning staff hit the ground running today. Tomorrow we’ll have students
new to Pioneer for an exciting day and Wednesday will mark the first day with all students.
You should be very proud of the work everyone, including our custodial and maintenance
staff has done to make the start of the 2025-2026 school year absolutely amazing.

Board Goals Setting Session for the 2025-2026 School Year
On Friday, August 1 st the Administrative Team was joined by Mr. and Mrs. Theaker, Mr.
McFarland, Mr. Grady and Mr. Hope for our annual Board Goalsetting Session. They
heard reports on our Strategic Planning process and crafted outstanding goals for the
2025-2026 school year.

Revisions to Board Policies
I am asking you to approve a revision to our Cell Phone/Personal Communication Device
Policy. This revision follows the newly enacted State ban of cell phone use during the
instructional day. This policy has been shared with our current and incoming students and
their families as well as our staff.

Update of Building Rental Fees
Mr. Bazley, Mr. Kowalski and I met to review our Building Rental Fee Schedule. These are
the fees we charge outside organizations for use of our Building and/or grounds. It had not
been updated in many years. After comparing it to several other Districts, we believe the
attached schedule offers opportunities for our communities to utilize our facilities at a
reasonable cost.

Personnel Items
I am pleased to recommend the hiring of Nate Ganzhorn as our Engineering Design
Instructor. He comes to us with outstanding experience and credentials and Mr. Slaughter,
Mr. Frye, and I believe that he will be an instructor. He will expand the offerings to our EDT
students and continue to build on the hands-on opportunities for them.
All other items are common for this time of year.

OSBA Capital Conference Registration
I am passing around sign-up sheets for the November 16-18 OSBA Capital Conference. if
you would like to stay overnight and in order to secure a hotel room, please let Mindy know
by Monday, September 15. That’s the date of our September Board Meeting so you can let
me know at the Board Meeting.

Calendar Items
o August 19 - First Day for 1 st Year Students
o August 20 - First Day for All Students
o September 19 - Staff Professional Development Day
o September 26 - Pastries with Parents
o October 2 & 3 - RMC Manufacturing Days
o October 9 & 16 - Parent-Teacher Conferences
o October 17 - End of 1 st Grading Period

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