Wellsville BOE Seeing Red

The Wellsville School District Board of Education held their October meeting Monday evening with all Board members present.  President Karen Dash presided. 

On the district’s financial side Treasurer Coleen Wickham reported that September receipts were $769,929 and expenditures were $795,579 leaving a General Fund balance of $1.3 million. Interest earned for the month was $1,405.  The Food Service fund was shown being $48,832 in the negative for the past month.  Board member Ed Bauer asked Mrs. Wickham to mention that.  Wickham explained that since closing out the books for September the district has received $52,000 and for the time being the fund is showing a positive balance.  She went on to advise that money for the fund is requested after the month ends.  With the community eligibility options giving free meals to school students in two of the three buildings the accounts have been up. 

After that the news turned rather bleak for the school district with the 5-Year Forecast that was submitted for approval.  In an understatement President Dash referred to it as “the not so good forecast”.   The Treasurer reported that the District will be out of cash by the year 2016.  The district’s expenditures are out pacing incoming revenue receipts.  In 2010 there was a cash balance of $2.9 million.  In the last two years that has been whittled away by spending $445,950 more than what was brought in for the year 2011 and another $439,610 additional for Fiscal Year 2012.  The negative cash balance is forecasted to keep increasing for each of the next five years with the numbers that are available today.  If nothing changes in the coming years on the revenue side the district’s ending cash balance at the end of the year will be awash in red ink in 2016.  Again if nothing changes the forecasted cash balance going into FY2016 will be a negative $0.6 million, triple that amount for 2017 and minus $3.2 going into 2018.  It’s not a reflection on the treasurer’s job performance.  It is just cold hard facts working with the figures that are available in the present time. 

Mrs. Wickham used the cost of insurance as an example. This year alone insurance cost is up $92,000 over last year.  The trend is that insurance costs will increase 12% per year in each of the next five years.  The cost of Employees Retirement & Insurance Benefits is expected to increase from $2 million for FY2012 to nearly $2.5 million for FY2015.  Costs for Personnel Services have been reduced since 2010 by not replacing some employees that have left the district.  Attempts have been made to adjust for the negative cash flow but unless something drastic occurs the district will be out of cash by 2016.  Bauer noted that several years ago the Personnel Services costs were reduced from 92% with cuts that were made to around 80% the last few years.  Combined with the increases in benefits and the loss of students has made it extremely necessary to be very careful with the district’s money.  Dash noted it could change at any time especially with the State of Ohio still working on budget adjustments.  It is doubtful that casino revenue will be much help.  Bauer said the district got $17,000 to $19,000 in the first year but casino revenue has decreased 20 to 25% since they opened.  Wickham reemphasized that the five year forecast is based on what is known at this given point.  Last October State officials advised that financial figures will remain the same and then turned around in January cutting Wellsville’s incoming revenue “$200 grand” according to Bauer.  Wickham conclude the forecast can change overnight. 

For the Student Leadership Achievement Team it was reported that 3^rd-grade students took the Ohio Assessment in reading October 3 with results expected next month.   The Officer Phil program will be held October 18 for students in grades 1 through 3.   Daw Middle School with hold a training session for parents to help them utilize the Progress Book.  Daw 5^th grader Olivia Prince was the student of the month.  The new middle school show choir, the Harmonics, recently performed for the Wellsville Arts Club and will be holding their own concert on October 23 at the high school.  The concert starts at 6 PM.  The high school student of the month for September was senior Francesca Colella and senior Sarah Skinner for October.  The high school Music Department will have their Halloween Concert October 30.  The high school band will be competing in the OVAC Band Show on the 20^th.  OGT testing will begin on the 22^nd.  Finally the whole Board was elated that preliminary data indicated that all three schools in the district will receive an excellent rating on the State Report Card.  It is the first time that all three got that rating.  The official results are still being held pending the audit by State officials on some districts in the state fraudulently reporting attendance figures to boost performance ratings. The government bases their financial aid and employee bonus awards on those ratings.  About 3% of the 3,688 school districts in Ohio are being audited.  Wellsville School District is not included in that 3%.

In the Good News Report Mrs. Dash noted that the $1,000 worth of school supplies awarded to Garfield Teacher Kelly Moss has been shared with every teacher in Garfield.  The award was given by the Office Max Company through their A Day Made Better program which is given out annually.  Team Mojo awarded school supplies for Daw Middle School students.  Thanks were expressed to the district’s cafeteria staff for their dedication and hard work in honor of National School Lunch Week.

Field trip requests were approved for Grade 6 students to Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh on November 8, for Grade 8 students to New York City next May, for Intervention Specialist Classes to Robinson Township Center Mall on December 7 and to the Univ. of Pit – Temple football game at Heinz Field October 27 for the WHS Cheerleaders.

Personnel moves approved were Janele Spann for high school cheerleader’s advisor and for Bryce Bezdek, Rick Stanley III & Meredith Bobalik to the substitute teacher list.  Coaching assignments approved were Tom Gualtier for Girls Basketball Varsity Asst., Bob Swogger for Girls Basketball Volunteer Asst., Meredith Bobalik for 7^th grade girls basketball, Alvin Thompson for 8^th grade girls basketball, Jason Carter for Boys Freshman Basketball, Derek Thompson for Voluntary Basketball Asst., Thomas Hackney for Daw volunteer for wrestling and Dale Palmer & Paul Bergert as volunteer Bowling coaches. 

In other business a lengthy list of NEOLA Board Policy changes and deletions were approved.  Bus stop routes for the current school year were made official for the record. 

In closing remarks Ed Bauer noted the excellent rating for the three Wellsville schools is a tribute to the teacher’s & staff’s dedication and devotion to district students.  Tom Brophey advised he and Bauer will be attending the Capitol Conference in November.   Bill Miller offered congratulations to Wellsville’s first year Career Center Cosmetology student Lexi Cook for taking second place in a braiding contest. Mike Cook commended all the Wellsville students & Wellsville graduates that participated in this year’s Dash For Matts Bash.  Karen Dash noted the the Building Leadership Team will hold their first meeting of the new school year today, October 16.  She also sent wishes for Good Luck in the tournaments to the Volleyball teams. 

The meeting adjourned at 7:09 PM.   The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, November 19 at 6:30 PM in the Superintendent’s Office.  The office is located at 929 Center St. 

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