MANSFIELD — Mansfield City Schools is projected to spend $3.9 million more than it takes in during the 2024-2025 school year.
But with declining enrollment, climbing operating costs and uncertainty surrounding the future of federal education funding, school board Chris Elswick said cutting the district’s deficit to zero likely won’t be enough.
Elswick said the district’s board of education is working on a deficit reduction plan that would include between $8 and $10 million in cuts.
That plan is due to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce (ODEW) by Feb. 28.
“I think it’s going to be very difficult for public education going forward, so we’ve got to be as efficient as we can,” he said.
Nevertheless, Elswick said the board of education is unlikely to vote on that plan at its regular meeting Tuesday. A vote is more likely to occur during a special board meeting on Feb. 25.
Elswick said the board and school officials are still in the process of gathering information necessary to formulate a final plan.
Elswick said the board is considering recommendations from the administration and Mansfield School Employee Association as well as conversations with advisors from RedWin Educational Consulting.
The district’s operating expenditures for the 2023-2024 school year exceeded $57.6 million, according to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. Its expenditures for this school year are forecasted to total more than $58.5 million.
The district submitted a plan to ODEW in July outlining how it would cut costs. That plan was approved, but Elswick said it wasn’t fully implemented.
The district’s most recent five-year forecast projects that, without changes, the school system will run out of money before spring 2026.
Board unlikely to make planned cuts public before a vote
Elswick said the board likely won’t share a finalized version of the plan until after it’s been voted upon out of respect for district employees, who will be directly affected by staff cuts.
“It’s a plan that affects a lot of people and their plans and their livelihoods,” he said. “Any time we talk about peoples’ contracts, thats something you can’t talk about in public.”
Elswick noted the district will have to cut both teachers and administrators. Programs will also be impacted.
“All those things will be affected in some way,” he said. “We’re trying to balance it out as much as possible so not to affect the classroom.”
Supt. Stan Jefferson previously told Richland Source that cuts will be “district-wide.”
Elswick also said rumors the district will be closing Spanish Immersion or shutting down its career technical education program are false.
Board spent three hours in executive session last week
The school board spent more than 190 minutes in a closed-door session during a special meeting Feb. 10. The agenda for the meeting included a vote on budget cuts afterward, but the board was unable to come to an agreement.
Elswick said the board met that day because they’d been told the state was requiring a preliminary version of the plan to be submitted that day, but one of the district’s attorneys later informed the board that wasn’t the case.
“We were talking, trying to hurry, trying to get something in,” he said. “After it was all over, our attorney told us ‘Well, we really don’t have to vote on anything today.'”
Elswick declined to provide specifics on how the misunderstanding occurred, but did confirm the board is now working with a different attorney on the plan.
“We did change attorneys. I’m not saying it was her fault or anybody’s fault, but three of the board members felt more comfortable dealing with a different attorney,” he said.
“It happened. We’re going to move past it and we’re going to put out the best deficit reduction plan possible.”
The board set another work session for Feb. 13, which was later canceled.
Elswick said it was canceled because the board didn’t receive the additional information needed to continue hashing out the plan.
What’s on the board’s agenda Tuesday?
Tuesday’s board agenda does not include a vote on budget cuts, but does include:
- A $38,800 quote from Alumni Roofing Company for roof renovations at Malabar Intermediate
- A resolution to continue its membership in the Ohio High School Athletic Association.
- A resolution to adopt updated Special Education Model Policies and Procedures from the Ohio Department of Education
- Calendars for the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 school years
- Previous board meeting minutes
- Financial reports