A special session of the Mansfield City Schools Board of Education was held at Mansfield Senior High School’s gymnasium Monday evening in order to accommodate the crowd of more than a hundred concerned citizens interested in the Financial Planning and Supervision Commission Initial Recovery Plan.
A second draft of the plan was presented. Springmill Learning Center will not operate at full capacity in the 2014-2015 school year. The Spanish Immersion School will not close.The Adult Education and the Alternative Education programs will move to the Hedges building.
However, Newman Elementary School is still slated for closure. Students from Newman will be assigned to Prospect and Sherman schools.
Community members who wanted to speak during public comment filled out a form prior to the beginning of the meeting. When the public comment portion of the meeting began Renda Cline, President of the Board of Education, held up a stack of papers nearly an inch thick.
Dozens of parents, grandparents, teachers, and community members spoke, some declined to speak if their question or concern had been addressed earlier in the meeting. Even so, the public comments spanned more than two hours.
With tears, laughter, memories, and personal stories people advocated for their schools and children. Some parents from Spanish Immersion School expressed gratitude for the change in the Recovery Plan. Many spoke about the strengths of Newman school and the community there.
Some questions were raised as well. People expressed concerns about the mechanics of these changes. Some parents were concerned about class sizes. Others wanted to know more about the procedure for the reduction in force.
Board of Education Treasurer Rosetta Stevens reviewed the revenue and expenditures to clarify the financial status of the district. Property values account for 22 percent of revenues for the school district and the auditor’s office projected a higher delinquency amount for current school year. Additionally, the district lost $4 million in revenue with the failure of the renewal levy in 2012. The voters did pass a levy this fall which will bring in $4 million.
The 2012 delinquent real estate taxes were $5,726,000 and delinquent tangible personal property taxes were $175,000. In 2013 the delinquent real estate taxes were $5,873,000 and delinquent tangible personal property taxes were $168,000. Moving forward, the tangible personal property taxes will cease to be a revenue stream as a result of House Bill 153 eliminating this tax. Total loss was $3,400,000.
Restricted state grants and aid are not expected to grow. The Ed Jobs program was eliminated, thus those funds will no longer be in the budget. Purchased service savings have been achieved through changes in copier service, utilities savings, and busing. Permanent improvement money is being used to for building repairs.
Stevens clarified the allocations for community schools, also referred to as charter schools. While Mansfield City Schools receives $3,000 per child from the state for each student, the district pays out over $8,000 per child for students that go to community schools. Busing and special education costs served to those schools are in addition to the $8,000 per child.
Superintendent Brian Garverick and board members answered questions throughout the evening. Many particulars are yet to be resolved. Garverick believes that class sizes may not increase since some schools currently are below capacity, but those details remain to be resolved. There are policies and procedures that have to be followed for the reduction in force and that also remains to be further explored.
“Not every family lives in the greatest house with the best roof, but you have the best family under that roof; that is what matters. That school, they have the best family,” said Dusty Reece, a parent of a Newman student.
Cline reminded everyone that the cuts are not optional, this is a mandate from the commission that is not negotiable. “I just want to reiterate that the cuts are mandates. We were told specifically that these are the cuts that have to happen.”
Garverick clarified the way that the cuts work. “See the commission puts it in our hands. ‘You make the cuts–here’s the number; you come up with the money.’ But we still have to make the cuts.”
Policy handed down from Columbus continues to be a talking point for Garverick.
“We’re not the only school district in the state of Ohio that is going through fiscal emergency. There have been several before us and there are several in fiscal watch. As long as our legislature continues to pass legislation that does not allow a level playing field with charter schools, the common public school is always going to be at risk.”
“I just want to reiterate that the cuts are mandates. We were told specifically that these are the cuts that have to happen,” said School Board President Renda Cline.
