MANSFIELD — The Mansfield City School District hopes previously approved spending reductions are enough to pass financial muster with the state.
The district’s school board on Tuesday morning, meeting in special session, unanimously approved a written plan for the Ohio Dept. of Education & Workforce that it said will eliminate a looming deficit identified in its five-year financial forecast.
The plan, proffered by Treasurer Barbara Donohue during a 10-minute meeting, identified no additional cost-saving measures beyond those the board previously approved.
It simply added in the projected $2 million in projected savings from the immediate closure of the Tyger Digital Academy that the board approved on July 9.
Donohue said the state looked at the district’s five-year financial forecasts in November and May, which showed deficit spending in the next few years and a negative cash balance by the 2025-2026 school year.
The treasurer said the ODEW looks at those forecasts and requires districts projecting deficits within three years to submit a plan on how those issues will be solved.
“They want you to put in a written plan to them so they know districts are preparing for the future,” said Donohue, a former interim treasurer in the district who received a three-year contract earlier this month.
“By the time they had contacted the Mansfield City Schools, Mansfield City Schools had already taken several steps to offset any of that moving forward,” Donohue said.
In addition to closing the TDA, the district in May implemented $1.2 million in budget cuts for the 2024-2025 school year that included 16-percent reductions across department and building budgets, according to the treasurer.
The district also terminated two service contracts totaling $130,000 in savings, Donohue said.
The ODEW’s requirement of the plan is not an indication the district is under any form of “oversight” by the state, a claim confirmed last week by Kim Richard, who works in the state’s Office of Budget and School Funding.
Richard told Richland Source requiring such a plan is not unusual and that “most districts can resolve projected deficits without the need for fiscal oversight.”
(Mansfield City Schools board members Gary Feagin and Jennifer Kime ask questions during a special board meeting on Tuesday morning.)
Two of the five board members asked questions during the meeting — Gary Feagin and Jennifer Kime.
Feagin, who was critical of the decision to close the TDA, asked if enrollment gains or losses would be added into the district’s ongoing financial plans since state revenue is partially based on student population.
There were about 60 students planned for the digital academy in the 2024-2025 school year. It’s not known how many of those students will enroll into traditional classes with MCS.
Donohue said it would be factored into the financial planning.
“That comes from the Ohio Department of Education for the State Foundation and they do an enrollment update,” Donohue said. “We’ve already got our simulation for next year, but they do actuals then once the school year starts.
“As that goes along, we’ll know how much our enrollment has dropped. Plus, we’ll know in-house.”
It’s not reflected in the current financial plan, but Feagin asked Donohue about re-bidding the district’s health insurance plan for employees as an attempt to reduce costs.
“We really, truly do not have an idea of any cost savings that you could get to gain from that. Is that correct?” Feagin asked.
Donohue said she is hopeful because other districts are paying less-costly premiums.
“We’re just basing it on what we’re hopeful … because what we put in here on the insurance, what we’re hoping to gain by re-bidding the insurance, because looking at other districts and their health insurance that they carry, their premiums are just a little less and that helps us know the savings,” the treasurer said.
“So we’re hoping that’s part of our plan and we’re actually working on that right now. Our current insurance agent is dissecting the plan and looking at each piece and going to look at outliers and look to see what’s out there for us,” Donohue said.
“That’s our plan moving forward. I can’t put numbers in that I don’t (yet) have,’ she said.
Kime asked Donohue what comes next.
“Will we need to do this again or will we wait until November?” Kime asked.
Donohue said, “Not unless we’re in a negative or a potential deficit again. Hopefully, where we’re at now and the things that we have in our plan, and we go forward doing those, we don’t expect, nor do we want, the state to come back and want us to do this again.”
The treasurer said the district’s next schedule financial forecast is in November, barring additional ODEW requirements.
Supt. Stan Jefferson said he believes the plan will satisfy ODEW.
“There’s been a lot of hard work that’s been done … between the treasurer’s office and our office here with the superintendent … working with all of our people here within our central office … to make sure that we can present a plan to the board, that will be a sound plan and present a plan to the state that will be also sound and approvable,” Jefferson said.
Donohue ostensibly told board members the same thing.
“Now, we go through 2027 with a positive balance and we don’t expect the state to come in,” she said.
There was no discussion on Tuesday about the combined income-and-property tax issue the board voted earlier this month to put on the November ballot.
That proposed tax would generate about $7.8 million annually in district operating funds — $3 million in property tax and $4.8 million in new income taxes.
Jefferson said there were no immediate plans for additional cuts if the levy fails.
“You’re looking at every single aspect that’s in your budget, but we don’t want to have an impact at the end of the day on our children in our classrooms.
“We want to still be able to provide quality education for our students and be able to take care of our families and our staff. So we are just going to continue to look at every expenditure that we have in the district.
“We’re going to continue to look at all the things that we need to do that will still ensure that we are providing quality education, outstanding education, as a matter of fact, to our students, taking care of our staff and taking care of our families,” Jefferson said.
