001Uh welcome to the Berian local school district regular meeting February 9th 2026 6 p.m. the BHS commons. Uh this is regular meeting this meeting of the Verian Board of Education and public for the purpose of conducting the school district's business and is not to be considered a public community meeting. This is a time for public participation during the meeting as individual indicated on the agenda. Vermillion board bylaw 0169.1. Um, can I call roll please? Mr. Benson here. >> Mrs. Stepp >> here. >> Mrs. Russell >> here. >> Mrs. Inennis >> here. >> Mrs. Trice >> here. >> Miss Dodge >> here. >> Miss Dunn >> here. >> All members present. So we would like to start off by having the uh start the students citizens of the month come over to meet Mr. Malier. Um
002the kids were selected because they demonstrated uh persistence this this uh this month and then they will help uh lead us in the pledge. My name is Ally first grade and I want to be a teacher when I grow up. >> My name is Milo and I'm in first grade and I want to be a school guy. Hi, my name is kindergarten and I want to be a mom teacher. My student um and I'm a nurse and um a firefighter when I grow up. >> All right. Austin. >> My name is and I'm in third grade and I want to be a famous YouTuber. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Good job.
003>> Great job. >> You guys p your seat. Thank you. >> We'd like to get into the legislative report. Crystal. Uh yeah. So I just have a couple of them on here um that I was going to talk about. There's a lot of uh funding things and bills with to do with like property taxes and stuff like that that I just told Justin I'm going to I'm going to leave that to him because I will just mess it up and have people more confused if I try. So we'll leave that to him to talk about. Um the two that I wrote down today, uh House Bill 189 is one of them. Um that one the House Education Committee just held their second hearing on. Um, it creates a statewide behavioral threat management operational process for
004public and chartered non-public schools. Um, so we'll just keep an eye on that one and see if that's something that comes out. Um, and then Senate Bill 19 that was passed by the Senate in November. It's now in the House. Um, that requires districts and schools to develop a mathematics improvement and monitoring plan for each student who qualifies for math intervention services. Um, so that one's currently in the House, so we'll just keep an eye on that one, too. Okay, that's it. >> Thank you. Um the next one we have is the student leaison report. Uh Andy Stillman and the swim team. Right, Shel? >> Yes. Yes, we have Andy Stillman, our athletic director has uh brought with him our swim team. So if you all come up and thank you so much for having
005us. First off, let me say uh we really appreciate I really appreciate having this opportunity to shed light on different students, what they're doing, their achievements, and this is a great place to do that. First, before we get started, the first thing we're going to do is I'm going to show a quick video that Timothy Anders and some of the SNN students put together, and then we'll get in the presentation. Heat up Heat. Heat. All right. So, it's my honor to introduce our two captains and talk a little bit about the season and their accomplishments. Joe Shaw and um um Cole Rick, sorry. Um I'm Cole Rein. This is Joe. I'll start down. I'll go down the line who we have here. Uh first we have Shawn Reed, uh Will Neely, Oliver Hendrickson, Austin Phillips,
006Jack Demian, our three girls, uh Maddie Dross, Key Waltz, Kyrie. Uh then we got Carter Gonzalez, Timothy Anders, and Corin Kennedy. Not with us tonight is Caleb Dross and Mason McFaden. They had other requirements they had to attend to. Um, winning the first conference championship in the school of history. It was fun, but you know, it took a lot of hard work, swimming's tough, and everyone out here will definitely tell you that. Um, and I'm really proud of them. It's my last year, and it's a super special group to do it with. They show up, they want to get better every day, and they make it fun. >> Uh, I'm I'm Joe Sh. Yeah, Cole really hit all the bases. But yeah, it's a really fun group. I've been swimming with a lot of these
007kids for like 2 3 years now. And uh it's created some special bonds, some special friendships, and uh yeah, winning SBC's was really fun. It was it was nice to do it for people I've been swimming with for for years. Um we do have our sectional meet this Saturday. Today is the start of our postseason, which means we'll be shaving our arms, our legs, and our armpits, too. Um, after that, it'll be districts and state. And if you ask what's after that, I'm not too sure, but getting us a local pool this one, that would be something great. >> I bet. Now, if you could take a moment to present all of them with their SBC um late division conference championship badges to put on their varsity jackets. Nice. >> Hey, congratulations. That's awesome. >>
008CONGRATULATIONS. move into the uh sixth topic on the agenda, the student board member report. Adri's got this one. >> It's all you. >> Uh so today we had the uh bowling boys go to sectionals. Yeah, they got seventh overall. The girls go tomorrow. Um uh for clubs the uh we have this I think it's the Leo's club and student council that um is kind of heading the uh blood drive. I think that was yesterday or today tomorrow. >> Tomorrow. Um ski club goes this week for their last time and then they go for a um trip to New York in two weeks I think. Um, we all very much enjoyed our snow day on Friday and um, we're very excited for the uh, winter formal. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you. The, uh, seventh
009um, topic is public participation on agenda items only. This time is allotted for community members to speak to the board regarding an item on the agenda. Please register your name, address, topic, and group affiliation if applicable. Do we have anybody that is wanting to speak today about the agenda topic? No. All right. Um the eighth topic is superintendent report. Hand recommendations. Yes. Thank you. Uh first of all, under A, I would recommend a resolution for the board to approve the revisions of district policies for the second read as listed there in attachment A. I'll move. I'll second. Call the roll, please. If there are any questions, sorry. No. Call roll, please. >> Mr. Benson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Steppp, >> yes. >> Mrs. Russell, >> yes. >> Mrs. Inennis, >> yes. >> Mrs. Trice, >>
010yes. >> Miss Dodge, >> yes. >> Miss Dunn, >> yes. >> Motion approved. 5-0. >> Okay. Under letter B, I'd like to recommend a resolution for the board to approve the memorandum of understanding between the Vermillion Teachers Association and the Vermillion Local School Board of Education for the term of September 1, 2025 through June 30, 2028 uh regarding articles uh 12 and 20 uh of the BTA contract which are in attachment B. >> I'll move. I'll second. Okay. Any questions? Call roll, please. Jess. >> Mr. Benson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Steppp. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Russell. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Inennis. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Trice. >> Yes. >> Miss Dodge. >> Yes. >> Miss Dunn? >> Yes. >> Motion approved. 50. >> All right. The ninth topic we have treasures report and organizations. Justin.
011>> Thank you. Um, a recommend a resolution to the board to approve the financial report for January 2026. And that's attachment C. >> I'll move second. >> Roll, please. >> Throw it right. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Um, starting with the general fund, we'll go through uh revenue by month. Uh through the month of January, the district received 13.7 million in general fund revenue compared to 13 million in fiscal year 25 and 12.5 million in fiscal year 24. Uh as such, the district is on pace to collect slightly more tax revenue this year than its historical average. And then down below, I did break down the revenue by category. Uh if you go to look through it, really the only thing that stands out this year compared to the other two years is our property
012tax revenue is up slightly. uh up roughly a million dollars compared to to last year. Um and then also if you notice too, all other operating revenue is down slightly from last year. That's because of the sale of the Apple leases and also the sale of the U 935 Decator building. Moving on to food service revenue. Through the month of January, we received $464,000 in food service revenue compared to $453,000 at this time last year and $45,000 in fiscal year 24. As such, food service should continue to collect its historical average revenue. And then moving on to all funds through the month of January, we've received 15.3 million compared to 14.5 million at this time last year and 14.1 million in fiscal year 24. On the expenditure side, through the month of January, we've expended
01315.7 million from the general fund compared to 15.9 at this time last year and 15.8 in fiscal year 24. Again, the breakdown of the historical costs are uh down below here. Uh a couple things to point out, our salaries are pretty much right in line. They've stayed pretty flat the last 3 years. Um the other thing that's of note is our insurance and retirement. We did receive a premium holiday this year, which is offsetting that cost by roughly $360,000, whereas in the previous two years, we did not receive a holiday. Uh all in all, 15.7 to 15.9 to 15.8. Again, our our our expenditures have been pretty flat these last three years despite costs going up. Uh moving on to food service through the month of January, the district expended $630,000 compared to $615,000 last
014year and $487,000 in fiscal year 24. Um as such, we're on we're on pace to spend slightly more this year than our historical average. And then looking at all funds through the month of January, we've expended 17.9 million compared to 17.9 million last year and 18.6 million in fiscal year 24. Uh moving on to the cash side of things through the month of January on the general fund side, we have a total of 6.9 million in cash compared to 13.3 million last year and 14 million in fiscal year 24. Uh again, the main difference here is last year the district transferred $7.6 6 million from the general fund to a capital projects fund. Uh moving on to food service through the month of January, we have a total of $57,000 in food service compared to
015um 240,000 last year and 332,000 in fiscal year 24. Again, that's something we're going to want to keep an eye on. Our food service cash balance is declining. Um and a lot of that is some of the things that we didn't used to code to food service that we were able to. I've coded this last year and a half to it as well. So, we're driving that down purposefully. And then lastly, looking at all cash through the month of January, we have a total of 17 million in cash compared to 16.2 last year at this time and 17.2 and 24. And then if you wanted to look at where that 17.084 million is uh by fund, I have it on the next page here. Believe it or not, our largest uh fund balance is our
016capital projects fund with 7.6 6 million followed by our general fund with $6.9 million and then last our third place I should say is our scholarship fund with $1.8 million in there. On the investment side through the month of January uh we've earned a total of $413,698455 compared to $431,324.96 last year. Uh this is a difference of $17,000 or 4.1% less. >> All right. Thank you, Justin. >> Yep. >> Uh, any questions? >> Call the roll, please. >> Mr. Benson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Steppp, >> yes. >> Mrs. Russell, >> yes. >> Mrs. Inis, >> yes. >> Mrs. Trice, >> yes. >> Miss Dodge, >> yes. >> Miss Dunn, >> yes. >> Motion approved. 5-0. V. Recommend a resolution to the board to approve the February 2026 financial forecast. And that is attachment D. >>
017I'll move. >> I'll second. Okay. So again, thank you. Um this will be the February 2026 presentation. Uh if you recall, historically we would do this in um November and in May and with the new legislative changes. Uh we now get to do this in August, although I did it in September, I think, and then um now in February. So we're changing the timing up a little bit. uh makes things a little more challenging just because we don't know the results of elections by the time we're doing these forecasts. But nevertheless, here we are. So again, what is the what is the purpose of the 5-year forecast? Uh 5-year forecast is really for for three things. Number one is to engage the board of education in the community in long range planning and also for
018discussions of financial issues facing the school district. Uh number two, it's to serve as a basis for determining the school district's ability to sign contracts associated with continued operations. And then lastly, it's to provide a method to the Department of Education in the audio state's office to identify school districts with potential financial problems. So there's been a lot of recent changes here, and I've never done this before, but I'm going to have to do it this time. I put a revenue disclaimer on this forecast. Um, and I hate to do that, but there are just so many things out there that have still yet to settle that it's very difficult to pinpoint exactly where the where the revenue will be, not only this year, uh, but next year and the following years. So with that,
019um, recent legislation adopted by Ohio General Assembly, including House Bills 186, House Bills 335, House Bills 129, and House Bill 309, which I'll speak to later in the presentation, introduces new limits and adjustments to how property tax revenues are calculated and collected by school districts, and with the intent of moderating revenue growth associated with rising property values. Uh implementation of these changes is ongoing. The Department of Taxation continues to work through technical and administrative details and county auditors are awaiting guidance and certified tax rates before final impacts can be communicated to school districts. In addition, these bills were enacted in close succession and questions remain regarding how certain provisions interact. Uh accordingly, revenue assumptions reflect the best information available at the time of this forecast and may be revised as additional guidance, certified rates or
020statutory changes occur. Okay, there's my big disclaimer to say I'm pretty sure, but just in case um I got this uh disclaimer. So again, on those legislative changes, um really the the four big ones, House Bill 186, 335, 129, and 309, um as mentioned in this in the disclaimer, House Bill 186, details are still being ironed out with this. Um but essentially, and I'll try to sum this up, is if you were on the 20 mil floor like we are here, and your house value goes up 20%. But inflation for that same period of time is 10%. Your taxes will not go up 20%. They will go up 10%. Um, House Bill 186 caps growth at the 20 mil floor using the GDP later or inflation. So what this is saying is that historically once
021you hit the 20 mil floor, whatever value your home went up is essentially the value your taxes. What this legislation is doing is saying that instead of going up to the rates that the house value goes up, it's limiting everything to the rate of inflation. It's trying to drive everything back down. In addition to House Bill 186 is House Bill 335. Um, this is identical to House Bill 186. The only difference is this is applying your inside millage where House Bill 186 is applying to your outside village. It does the exact same thing. It keeps your inside millage growth to the rate of inflation or less, not to whatever your home value. Okay. Uh, House Bill 129. This is going to be the most significant legislation affecting familiar local schools. We do have an emergency
022levy renewal on the November ballot. Uh, if it's renewed, the mill will be counted in the 200 mil floor calculation. Uh currently that village is not counted in the 200 bill4 calculation. Uh resulting again passes resulting in Vermillion coming off of the 200 bill4. And if Vermillion comes off the 20 bill4 by a renewal of this emergency levy, uh it'll reduce residential taxes from there today. And then lastly, we have House Bill 309. What this essentially is doing is removing local authority and it's giving from the board of education and it's giving that authority to the county commission. Okay. So again, the legislation has been pretty active the last few months. These have all been adopted on December 19th. Um they still currently are not law. It takes 90 days to pass a law. So
023starting in March, these will all become effective. So when I talk about the 20 mil floor and what that means and how does that look um I think this is the easiest representation of it. So on this chart the first line is your inside bill which is 3.9 bills. After that is your current expense. These are the levies that Vermillion has passed. They passed levies in 1976, 1989, 1992 and 1993. If you look at the bottom there in 2018 it says 20.289 289 841. That's the effective mill rate. As home values go up, that effective millage rate drops down. And what that what the 20 mil floor says is once it hits 20 mills, it can't go lower than that. So what happened is Vermillion first became on the 20 mil floor in 2021. So
024you take a look in 2020 it was 20.20 and then in 2021 that affected military dropped to 20.0000. uh at that time residential values increased to 10.3% in the reappraisal that happened in 2021. And what that did is that reduced our effective mill rate to 19.8 mill. The big one, the one that just happened in 2024, that reappraisal in 2024, home values increase not by 10.3%, they increase by 25%. uh that 25% reduces effective millage rate all the way down to 16.1 mills. The county auditor is tasked with making those adjustments. So what the county auditor did all of those um effective billing rates 7.5 2.4 2.7 3.3 those were inflated he added 3.9 mills back into those into those rates to make it even 20. And so because he added 3.9 mills back in,
025that is why homeowners saw that large increase in taxes, right? So what did the last update do to our property taxes? Um, I told this, this is our property tax revenue. I went back 14 years to show what our property tax collections were in 2012 and I compared them to where they are today. The last property tax increase from an operating happened in 2008. Uh and that 2008 is when we passed an emergency levy that will be on the ballot this November uh for renewal. Um overall property tax collections have been pretty steady as you can see. We haven't really had a huge swing up or down. Uh we have had greater tax collections recently starting in 2025 and 2026. That's because we were on the 20 mil floor. That's from the results of the
026county auditor adding 3.9 bills back in. Um but if you look at the forecast, we're expecting less profit tax revenue in 2028 than we received in 2012. 2012 we received 14.4 million. And with all of the different calculations that we've done uh forecastwise will be 14.3 million in 2028. Moving on to the public utility portion of our revenue. A public utility has been growing each year. Public utility, a lot of people ask what exactly is public utility personal property tax? What that is is that's taxes on the river. the taxes on um electrical plants. You go just outside of town on Bonar Road there, right next to Ford plant, we have Rain Erie power. Uh that is large electrical plant that we receive tax revenue. The difference between public utility and residential is that the
027public utilities pay the actual millage. So in 1976 we passed our first operating levy was for 35 mills. that's been reduced all the way down to seven weeks now for the residential side, but for the public utility, they're still paying 35 months. Uh they pay 100% of it, not subject to reduction factors. So what that means is that as their value increases, so too does their tax line. And you can see that here in this chart. Another part here is the state share of property taxes. um you know just take a look back 2012 2.6 million and this year we're at 1.8 million. So what this is showing is this shows exactly how the state is adding or shifting the tax burden back to local property taxes. Uh the state phased out certain taxes and
028credits like tangible personal property tax, commercial activities tax, also called the cat tax and the state paid almost $1 million more in 2012 than they are today. uh to local schools. Staying on state funding here. Um state funding for Vermillion has always been flat and it is due to the district being on the guarantee. Um when I say the guarantee, there's a couple different names for it. One of them that seems to really sum up what it is, it's basically called a whole harmless provision. And what this means is the state is paying a minimum amount of funding based on the past year's allocations rather than using our enrollments. Uh this protects districts from significant funding cuts when your enrollment declines significantly or when property values significantly increase in price. Both of which has happened
029here and why we're on the guarantee. Um I don't see any legislation speaking of removing the guarantee. Uh but if there is Vermillion receives an additional $1.8 million from the state for being guaranteed. So if there's ever talk about removing uh state funding and talk about eliminating the guarantees to permillion that would be $1.8 million. Those are all the different sources that we have to collect revenue from. Um now we kind of focus more or less on on the expenditure side and really what what the district can control. I want to put the caveat out there that when I do a forecast, when anybody does a forecast for that matter, we're not trying to predict the future. What we're saying is if everything were to stay the exact same, here's the trend of what would
030happen. Uh the forecast isn't designed to say that I know with certainty in four years from now, our revenue is going to be X and our expenditures are going to be Y. uh what I am saying is that with all the trends happening today our revenue very likely to reach there and our expenditures without any without making any significant changes will actually end up here as well. So the biggest part of our forecast is always personnel services. Um looking at this you can see that in 2023 we're at 14.4 or 14.6 million. In 2024, we dropped to 14 million, went back up to 14.5. Uh the funny thing with personnel services, our staffing levels really didn't change all that much. It's just the timing of how things work. So, due to timing, uh we paid
031all of our severances in either 2023 or 2025 based on how we received the severances in the timing that we got. Sometimes they just happen to fall at after July or we received them and we pay them in in June, the year before. For whatever reason in 2024 we didn't have any severance payments but they all happened outside of that. In addition in 2024 um the fiscal office reduced staffing by one FD fulltime equivalent and the IT department actually also reduced one full-time equivalent from that department as well. Uh so what you're seeing in 2024 is really two two less staff members but then also the timing of separate spans. Um the district has a 3% negotiated wage increase uh for next year um 2026 one and then also 2027. And so after fiscal year
0322027, the forecast anticipates a zero base increase with unfrozen steps. Those unfrozen steps are order to drive the costs of personal services up. uh they should make sure the district reduced an assistant principal, an assistant superintendent position, and also a counseling position. All of those changes um were not enough to offset the uh negotiated wage increase. The second largest part of the expenditures other than salaries is benefits. Uh this forecast anticipates an increase of 2.2% annually. Um how likely is that we'll get a 2% increase on our health insurance? It's very unlikely. Uh but what we're doing is to achieve this type of uh of increase um as staff leave or retire. The district does not plan on replacing them. This is the only way to keep health insurance costs and retirement costs down to
033a 2% 2.2% increase. Moving on to purchase services. Uh again, this forecast anticipates purchase services to grow at an average rate, average annual rate of 3.7%. Uh the district has been reducing services or finding ways for them to be done in house over the last few fiscal years and that's shown by going from 4.1 million to 3.8 million, 3.6 million. We've done everything that we possibly can do over the last three years um to make this as efficient as possible. Uh we're at a point now where um we've done everything we possibly can with our staff in house to be able to to do everything that we possibly can do. And so that 37 3.7% is really just inflation moving forward for what we're trying to supplies and materials. Um, we will we will be
034reducing our supply budgets starting next year. Uh, what we're going to do is we're going to meet with principles and department heads. We're going to comb through every single one of our budgets starting this spring and we are going to identify everything that we are currently buying that we can go without. Um, and that is the only way we're able to reduce these. The cost of paper does not go down. Uh, the cost of cleaning materials does not go down. uh we still need all these things, but we're going to have to figure out ways to to spend less uh and still provide the same level of service. Moving on to capital outlay. Um historically we've always replaced a bus or a van. Um 2026 looks a little high. We actually replaced two of them
035in 2025, but they didn't hit until 2026. Again, the timing of how everything works out. Um, in this forecast, I have us um not buying a band or a bus in 2027 and only replacing one special education bus in 2021. Lastly, this is our inter intergovernmental debt. Uh, what this is, this is our principal and cops um interest payments. Um, if you remember in 2020, we actually reduced all of these bonds. Um we went to uh movies, got a new rating, um refinanced all of our debt. We also refinanced the libraries that as well. Um by reducing that, we ended up saving right around $150,000 a year off the original debt. So we were able to save quite a bit of money, just over $2 million of the course of maturity for these these names
036here. And so now we're going to get into total revenue and total expenditures. We kind of covered individually what the revenue is, individually what the expenses are, and how all that ties to the forecast. Um, what I'm showing you right now is our total revenue and our total expenditures. Revenues in blue, expenditures are in orange, and what it would look like without the renewal. So, in 2025, uh, we transferred 7.6 million to an 070 capital projects fund. and without renewal. And with our current legislation enacted, uh the district would need to reduce $6 million from its expenditures while keeping expenditures flat throughout the forecasted period uh to keep its current cash balance neutral. Again, um we would be going from roughly $27.8 million in revenue down to $21.7 million in revenue without the uh renewal
037and with also current legislation. So again, if if if our renewal levy is not there uh starting next year, and again that'll be on in November of this year, the district will need to reduce $6 million roughly and keep everything else flat. Sometimes people like to see different charts. Um what I have here is this chart shows the exact same data from the previous slide. It just shows it a little bit different way. Uh the blue line is our revenue and our orange line is our expenditures. And again, those two lines as time goes on just keep getting further and further apart. What I have here now is our total revenue total expenditures, but this includes the renewal levy. Uh this slide shows that even with an emergency levy renewal, the district will still need
038to uh to reduce spending by roughly $2 million to overcome the loss from the legislative changes while keeping expected interest flat from today's spending. So again, looking at our revenue, we're at $27.8 million today. With legislative changes and the renewal passing, I anticipate our revenue to be at $25.9 million, roughly $2 million difference. And if we're spending $27.8 million today, um we're going to need to stay in that same ballpark uh for the next foreseeable future. Again, this is the same slide um same slide as before. Without the revenue, with the revenue, I'm sorry, without the renewal, with the renewal. You can see that those lines are much closer. the gap is a lot smaller in 2030 with the renewal than it was without them. And again, what I wanted to show you was was
039the results of both of those scenarios in one. Um, so this slide shows the two stairs we just spoke about. Um, the orange line is with a removal compared to the blue line is failure. Uh you can see how this shows the two scenarios that we currently are in and the difference of what a renewal versus a non-renewal would look like. One of the items that I do want to mention is our cash balance policy. And so the board of education does have a cash balance policy which is recognized as a best practice by the honor state's office. It requires the district to maintain 127 days of cash or 35%. During the entirety of its 5-year forecast, if during the forecast the cash balance falls below 90 days in cash or 25%. The board must
040request the administration to create a a plan to reduce expenditures, request an additional tax levy, or do a combination of both. uh administration has been tasked with creating financial recovery plan and will be providing that report for their consideration in the near future. This next slide shows exactly what our cash balance policy looks like. Um what I have here in orange is our days in cash. 2025 we 93 days in cash less than our policy required of7 days but slightly higher than our 90 days. 2026 we increased we have 116 days in cash 109 and in 2028 we fall below gold we fall below 35% and we fall below our 25% um the days in cash this is anticipating a renewal um passive renewal this month uh regardless of passive renewal if you look in
0412030 this is showing we have negative 3 days of cash what this saying is that uh without significant changes recently coming up here, we will run out of cash by 2030. So, I threw a bunch of information at you relatively quickly here. Um I'd like to share my final comments. I think this helps summarize everything. The district will need to invest in its infrastructure as components begin to age. This roof in particular was familiar with contractors. Um it's not going to be cheaper to replace this roof. It's going to be um we're getting a few anywhere from 2 million to $5.5 million to replace this group right now. Uh last year the board established an 070 capital projects fund by transferring 7 $7.6 million to the general fund. This transfer moved the cash on hand
042below board policy threshold and we notified the board at that time. Uh with legislative changes taking effect in March of 2026, the district's tax revenue will be reduced. All tax revenue for the foreseeable future will be less than it is today. As a result of failing a bond levy for capital improvements and as a result of current legislative changes, the district will have no choice but to reduce its spending in every category to stay out of state receiverhip. Failure to renew the existing emergency levy and not significantly reducing expenditures will result in state receiverhip in 2020. Sorry, I had to present that. Um, does anybody have any questions? >> There's still time. This isn't something that's immediate. We still have time before a lot of these changes happen to make a lot of these changes
043to fix a lot of these things that we need. And again, the sooner we do them, the less of an impact we have to make right away. Okay. >> So, Justin, a quick question. So obviously it's very important that we pass this levy in uh in November and because of legislation it can no longer be called a renewal levy. Um what was the >> it'll be called a fixed sum >> a fixed and even though they've changed the name the way it it works is the same that it will not increase um taxpayers taxes. Correct. >> Correct. >> Okay. I think that's important >> together. Um because it will a positive vote for that will pull us off of the 20 mil floor. It will actually reduce everybody's taxes that are banked currently uh in
044the future. >> Yeah. I just think that okay it's important to get out there for people to know. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Just >> you call the RO please. >> Mr. Benson. Yes, >> Mrs. Steppp. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Russell. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Inennis. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Trice. >> Yes, >> Miss Dodge. >> Yes, >> Miss Dunn. >> Yes. >> Motion approved. 5-0. C. Recommend a resolution to the board to approve the following donations. $250 from Sharon Hike Aid to SMS. $1,500 from Kuanas Club of Vermillion to 8th grade VHS Washington DC trip. $1,500 from Kuanas Club of Vermillion to Sailor Way 7th grade trip to Cleveland. Uh $5,000 from the Sydney Froman Foundation for Health and Wellness. $750 from Northern Ohio Medical Specialist to the Athletic Fund for
045advertising. Um and uh $4,500 from Grace's Kitchen to Sensory and Literacy. And also the Kuanas Club of Vermillion also donated a book vending machine and $1,000 to stock up on books. >> I'll move. >> I'll second. >> Um before we call the role, I'd like to say a big thank you to all generous donations from the community. We really appreciate that. Uh call the role, please. >> Mr. Benson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Steppp, >> yes. >> Mrs. Russell. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Inennis, >> yes. >> Mrs. Trice, >> yes. >> Miss Dodge, >> yes. >> Miss Dunn, >> yes. >> Motion approved. 5-0. And D. Recommend a resolution to approve the Ritter Public Library trustee appointments of Jacob Rafo and Julie Armstrong Ston to the vacated terms of Pam Ree and Eileen Bouan. The terms
046will be 12312027 and 12312029, respectively. I'll >> move I'll second. >> No questions. Call the roll, please. >> Mr. Benson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Steppp, >> yes. >> Mrs. Russell, >> yes. >> Mrs. Inennis, >> yes. >> Mrs. Trice, >> yes. >> Miss Dodge, >> yes. >> Miss Dunn, >> yes. >> Motion approved. 5-0. >> Thank you. Thank you, Justin. All right. The 10th uh portion of the agenda is the consent agenda. The superintendent and treasurer recommend that the board of education approve the consent agenda items. Action by the board of education in adoption of the consent agenda means that all items are adopted by one vote unless a member of the board, the treasurer, or the superintendent requests that any such item be removed from the consent agenda and voted on separately. A. Approve
047the minutes of the organizational and regular meeting of January 12th, 2026 attachment E. B. Approve the 2026 2027 membership into the Ohio High School Athletic Association at the cost of $50 per high school sport. C. Approve the Sound Station's day trip to Ann Arbor, Michigan on February 20th, 2026. D. approve the participation of the indoor track team and the OATCC indoor state track meet. E approve the following employment actions. Resignation of Michael Palm BHS effective third uh June 30th, 2026. Approve the 2025 2026 classified substitute contract for Christopher Brandom bus driver and training at $17 per hour. Approve the one-year additional duties contract for the 2025 and 2026 school year to the following as listed. Approve the one-year non-eing contract for the 2025 2026 school year to the following as listed. Approve Joshua Buchanan VHS
048baseball volunteer. approve the one-year 2025 2026 classified substitute bus monitor contract to Steve Sutton. Um, are there any items to be removed from the consent agenda? >> Okay, >> I'll move. >> I'll second. Um, call the RO, please. >> Mr. Benson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Steppp, >> yes. >> Mrs. Russell, >> yes. >> Mrs. Inis, >> yes. >> Mrs. Trice. >> Yes. >> Miss Dodge. >> Yes. >> Miss Dunn. >> Yes. >> Motion approved. 5-0. >> All right. The 11th item on the agenda are the dates and location of upcoming board meetings. Meetings will be held in the Vermillion High School Commons, 20 1250 Sanford Street, Vermillion at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Regular meeting uh March 9th, Monday, March 9th, 2026. regular meeting Monday uh April 13, 2026 and then regular meeting on Monday
049May 11th, 2026. Um we are on to the 12th item on the agenda, public participation. The public participation section of the board of education's agenda specifically designated for the public to address the board with their compliments, concerns, ideas, and or questions. The board welcomes your comments. If you wish to address the board regarding an issue, the board would remind you of two things. First, your comments should be factual and respectful of the rights of others. And second, before coming to the board with an issue, you should have first addressed it with the appropriate teacher, staff member, or administrator. This meeting of the board of education in public is for the purpose of conducting the school district's business. Um, did anybody sign up for that? after I settle that. No. Okay. All right. Um the time
050allotted for that anyways is 30 minutes total. Uh individuals should keep their time to 3 minutes or less. The board president reserves right speaker time. Um now on to the 13th item uh adjournment to executive session. Pursuant to Ohio Revised Code section 121.22. I hereby move that the board adjourned to executive session to consider the appointment, employment, dismissal, disciplined, promotion, demotion, or compensation of a public employee. Can I get a second? >> I'll second. >> All right, Shel's got a second. I moved. Um, call. Any questions? Call the RO, please. >> Mr. Benson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Steppp, >> yes. >> Mrs. Russell, >> yes. >> Mrs. Zenis. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Trice, >> yes. >> Miss Dodge, >> yes. >> Miss Dunn, >> yes. >> Motion approve 50 and the time is 6:51 p.m.
051All right, we are out of executive session. Um, >> at 8:05 I'd like to recommend a resolution for the board to approve West Beaver as our superintendent effective August 1st, 2026. Can I get a motion? I'll >> move. Second. >> Second. Okay. Um, call the RO, please. Mr. Benson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Stepp, >> yes. >> Mrs. Russell, >> yes. >> Mrs. Dennis, >> yes. >> Mrs. Trice, >> yes. >> Motion approved 5. Welcome. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. And then our 14th item on the agenda is for adjournment. Can I get a motion for that, please? I'll second >> and follow. >> Mr. Benson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ste, >> yes. >> Mrs. Russell, >> yes. >> Mrs. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Trice, >> yes. >> Motion approved 50 and is 6
052p.m. All right. >> Thank you. >> Did you want to make a comment, Mark, on behalf of the board? >> I think you should. I think >> he's getting us for comments. >> Um, you know, we're very happy to have Wes um as our superintendent. He's done a fantastic job in uh after Dave's retirement. Um his his focus and his relationships that he's built for on education and the district have really helped us in this time and uh he's eager to continue to do good work that he's been doing and uh we're just you know to have him. Anybody else have anything they'd like to say? >> I'm very glad to have you on. We're excited for participation. >> Wes, do you have a comment? >> I had a few seconds to think about one.
053>> Yeah, >> I am. I'm excited. Uh I I'm excited to continue on the board with that kind of just just begun to have here um working with the board uh to improve everything that needs to be improved about remaining schools, continue the legacy of the things that are that are going well, things that are important to our community uh here in Vermillion. Uh I I'm excited. uh the challenges that we have ahead are no match for what we collectively are going to be able to to do. Um we're going to we're going to rise to the challenge. And so I'm I'm very very excited. I love being here. I love the the students, the staff, the community, um everybody here at Vermillion. So I'm excited. Looking forward to it. >> Thank you very much.
054Thank you for staying.