MANSFIELD — Health insurance costs have put a damper on finances for the Mansfield City School District.
Treasurer Tacy Courtright said she expects district expenditures to exceed revenues by about $1 million for fiscal year 2022, which ends June 30.
“That is directly related to our health insurance costs,” Courtright said during a school board meeting Tuesday night.
“We are self-funded and we have had some high claimants,” she explained. “When you’re self-funded, it’s a little bit harder to to weather storms.”
Courtright added that the district’s benefits team, which includes board members, union members and staff, is looking into cost-saving measures.
“We are working diligently with new brokers this year and looking at our plans, trying to figure out how we can curb some of those costs, looking at going out to bid and looking at other vendors,” she said.
Courtright presented the district’s most recent five-year forecast on Tuesday. Despite higher-than-anticipated insurance costs, Courtright said she has a sunnier view of the district’s finances than earlier in the school year.
When the last five-year forecast came out in November, the state had not released updated estimates for how schools would be impacted by the Fair School Funding Plan, which passed in the summer of 2021.
Courtright said that House Bill 110 did not provide a substantial net increase to the district’s state funding, but that it was more beneficial than expected.
“(The budget) is in better shape than I thought (in November,) not knowing what House Bill 110 was going to do,” she said. “We do need to work on our deficit spending.”
Courtright projected that district expenditures will continue to exceed revenues though fiscal year 2026. She and district administrators are working to evaluate expenditures, re-examine contracts and reduce staffing levels through attrition where possible as staff retire.
“As an administrative team, we’re looking at everything,” she said. “We’re not just going with the status quo because that’s what was here. We’re really turning all our rocks over, getting down into the muck and trying to clean it up.”
Courtright said passing two renewal levies this fall will be vital to the district’s financial future. The two levies, which expire in at the end of the 2023 and 2025 calendar years, are being combined into a single ballot issue for November.
“There’s no additional taxes, same dollar amount that we’ve had in the past, We’re just combining those to alleviate some of voter fatigue,” she said. “We can’t operate our district without those and those levies have been on our books for quite a while.”
Courtright said the combination renewal levy would be 19.3 mills and generate nearly $8 million in revenue per year — about 40 percent of the district’s overall tax revenue.
The board also:
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Renewed several administrative contracts for three years, including Spanish Immersion Principal Michael Brennan, Director of College and Career Readiness Nikia Fletcher, Malabar Intermediate Principal Thomas Hager, Senior High Principal Robert McQuate, Manager of Food Service Lauren Moran, Director of School Improvement Andrea Moyer, Athletic Director Kevin Porter and District Behavioral Analyst Dahni Reynolds.
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An extension of a technology services agreement with City Mills Technology, LLC. The extension will be effective July 1, 2022 through June 20, 2025. The district will pay $1,325,624 over the next three years for services rendered by four full-time employees working in the district.
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Voted to partner with Lakeshore Eagle Solutions for district fundraising efforts.
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Approved new attendance area boundaries for students in kindergarten through second grade. The majority of the Prospect Elementary boundary will be merged into the Woodland Elementary boundary. A small section impacting fewer than 10 students will shift to Sherman Elementary to facilitate bussing.
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Met in executive session to review and prepare for collective bargaining.
