001Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Applause] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Hey, Heat. Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Welcome everybody to Beaver Creek Board of Education meeting for July 15, 2025. Would you please call the role? Dr. Fischer here. Mrs. Hunt here. Mr. Morrison here. Mrs. Reggano here. And Mr. Taylor, I'm here. Please stand for the pledge. I pledge algiance 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. I need a motion and a second to approve
002the agendas presented. So move second. Any discussion? Please call the vote. Mr. Morrison, yes. Dr. Fischer, yes. Mrs. Rano, yes. Mrs. Hunt, yes. And Mr. Taylor, yes. No questions or comments from the public. So takes care of that. Um, oh, number five. Sorry. That's all right. None of those. None of that either. Okay, good. So, no question then. Number six. So, we're going to I need a motion, a second to approve the minutes for the June 26, 2025 board meeting. So, move second. Any discussion? Please call the vote. Dr. Fischer, yes. Mrs. Reggano, yes. Mrs. Hunt, yes. Mr. Taylor, yes. And Mr. Morrison. Yes. Thank you. And we're at items for board discussion, not just discussion. We have one item this evening and that is the uh vouchers heard Ohio board discussion with Mr. Wilson.
003Andy Wilson. Andy has attended our board meetings u in the past a few years ago and I think has recently attended. Um so with that I'm going to let Mr. Wilson come up to the podium and he has a presentation for the board. Uh the board did provide Mr. Wilson with a number of uh questions. Mr. Wilson did answer those questions. You should have a copy of those in front of you. Um, but I think I'll let Mr. Wilson kind of take it from here and and uh do the presentation, if you have any questions, he's happy to answer those, too. I would like to um since the public doesn't know what questions we sent in and doesn't have the answers, I would like them posted either in the minutes or on our website. Absolutely.
004so they understand what so we can be transparent with them because they have no clue what you know. Yep. That's a great great we'll do that. Okay. Thanks. Also a good opportunity to mention that we did get some questions from the public as well that we we did and that's part of it. Thank you. Perfect. All right. Andy, turn it over to Okay. Uh thank you very much for the opportunity to present uh to you. Uh we on behalf of the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding, which I'll just refer to as the coalition from here on out. Uh we thank you for uh this opportunity. Little bit of a background on myself. I've served uh eight years on the Fairborn School Board and that's how I got involved with the coalition.
005I served four years as board president. Um, so and and we've been working on this lawsuit. Uh, it was filed back in uh 2022, but we were working on it for probably close to 8 to 9 months before we actually filed it. So, um, this I like to give some of my information sources here so people don't think that I make this stuff up because some of the stuff that's here is pretty incredible. So this is these are the my primary source of information is the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce website. So So here is the the crux of our lawsuit. Out of the five counts that we filed on the lawsuit, four of them come out of this and this is the entirety of article 6 section 2 the Ohio Constitution. So, uh,
006one of the counts of the lawsuit that the judge issued in fa in our favor is this single winner right here, a system of schools by having these voucher systems. Now, public schools all have to follow the same rules. They have curriculum standards, uh, lensure standards. just you on the board know this just a plethora of things they have to comply with. Um so that even though there are 600 plus districts, it really is one system governed by 600 groups of people. The voucher schools on the other hand are pretty much free to do whatever they want. And I'm sure that the Baptist schools have different curriculum and standards than the Christian schools, than the Jewish schools, than the Catholic schools. So there's multiple systems involved there. So, um, one of the other counts that
007we won on was this word here, common schools, because the public schools, their doors are open to everybody that's comes in that's within the boundaries of the district. You have to accept everybody. The private schools can pick and choose who they want based on behavior, based on academics, based on, you know, anything they choose to. So, and the biggest win that we have is this bold section down here. No religious sect or sect shall ever have any exclusive right to or control of any part of the school funds of this state. And there are hundreds of millions of dollars going to various parochial schools in the state. Uh this is another one that was not part of the lawsuit, but I I ran across this in the constitution. You know, no person shall be compelled
008to support any place of worship without his consent. And I haven't consented to having my tax dollars go to these schools, and I'm sure the rest of you in this room haven't either. So, there are five scholarship programs, as they call them, voucher programs in Ohio. It started off in Cleveland as a small effort to allow some of the students in Cleveland to attend some place other than the Cleveland municipal schools. Uh then they there's autism and the John Peterson special needs scholarship which are fairly self-explanatory. They're for special cases and that's not part of the lawsuit. Cleveland Autism and John Peterson are not part of the lawsuit. What is part of the lawsuit is the Ed Choice, which was the original uh wide-ranging program that allowed students from underperforming districts or schools to attend
009a private school. And then the Ed choice voucher program which started the two years ago when they they blew the doors wide open on that and everybody was eligible to apply for an ed choice voucher ed choice expansion voucher and I'm sorry. So you're saying that you're fighting against when this first came out the schools are underperforming. You're saying that's not fair either. Is that what I'm hearing? Um well the the egg choice does involve some of that but if you and I'm going to get to some of the demographics okay because originally at choice was not part of this the original voucher program what I understand correct me if I'm wrong was the underperforming schools those kids at least had a chance to get a better education Yeah, but it's it's kind of they're
010tied in together. And what's what's happened you'll see. Okay. Here. So, um so here here are the payments that the state has made to the ed choice voucher. Ed ed choice is in the blue and the ed choice expansion is in the orange. So before they blew the doors wide open for Ed Choice expansion, they only only spent $353 million on the vouchers. So in these two fiscal years, the end choice expansion went from 124 million to 405 and up to 461. And if you add these two together, there's 1.4 million 1.4 4 billion dollars of state money that's going to these schools. Not a penny of it is audited. Nobody knows where that money goes. Only the schools themselves know what they're spending the money on. So that was that was one of the
011questions uh in there. So, and you know these these there are no actual numbers for fiscal year 25 yet. So, I just extrapolated based on the number of vouchers and use the fiscal year 24 cost to arrive at the estimate. So, Ohio has a kind of peculiar definition of lowincome qualified. Their base their line for low income is 450% of the federal poverty level. Any any family earning $450% or below is eligible for the full voucher amount, which is $6,166 for K through8 students and $8,46 for 9 through 12 students. So that equates to a family of four, $140,400. If they have two high school students, they get $16,800 plus from the state. And that's taxfree money. So lowinccome qualified started out at 15,000 stayed at 15,000 and has dropped to 11. The not low
012income qualified this this number here in fiscal 25 is greater than the total of fiscal 24. So the families above $140,400 are getting a vast majority of the voucher money in the state. So the the voucher proponents say the money should follow the student. Well, 84% of the students in Ohio attend public schools, but they only get 77% of the state funding. So early on in the budget process that just concluded uh some of our politicians stated that the fair school funding program was unsustainable. Uh in the the previous year fiscal year budget or budget cycle that just concluded the fair school funding plan would have cost about $650 million with updated calculations for this budget cycle. that was just approved, it would have been somewhere around $800 million. So, so what about other things
013that the legislature has done in this budget cycle here? Cost of 650 million. There was an income tax reduction of over a billion dollars. in this budget cycle. Another income tax reduction of over a billion dollars that would cover that. Oh, by the way, $600 million for a Cleveland Brown stadium. And that 84% of the students receiving 77% of the state money. If that bumped up to 84%, $900 million. So, the state has the money to fully fund the fair school funding program. They're just choosing to spend it elsewhere or do other things with it. So you you may have seen some of this. I uh gave a copy of this to to Dr. Fiser at a a presentation. It's I've updated it a little bit. This is the picture here in Beaver Creek of
014what your voucher system uh voucher are. So, you have 717 students that are not low-income qualified that are getting vouchers from the state and only 71 that are low-inccome qualified. Your total, by the way, is the highest in Green County and it ranks 23rd in the state. for ed choice expansion vouchers. Uh this is just numbers and percentages on it. Um I pulled information from from the school finance funding report. It it indicates that you you receive approximately $1,200 per student from the state. Yet the average voucher in Green County is nearly $5,000. So those students are getting four times as much money as what you receive. That's a potential almost $4 million because it all comes out of the same giant pot of money. Don't let any legislative aid tell you that there's a
015separate line item for vouchers. There is not. If they tell you that, ask them to go to the Legislative Service Commission and tell you tell them where that line item is. It doesn't exist. So, I mean, that's theoretical because the behavior of the legislature is that well, uh, we'd just spend that money somewhere else. But if you had to replace that money about a mill and a half property taxes, and I know you struggled for passing things, and by the way, that Cleveland Brown stadium, half of that money would have paid for your new high school and a lot of other things. They can't be. Yeah. Here's here's the Green County uh voucher listing a total of nearly 2,000. Beaver Creek accounts for 788 of them. And this this is just the Ed Choice expansion
016vouchers. It's a since the program started. It's almost almost exactly 10 times as much as when it started in or before it started. So from 79 before they open the floodgates up to 788. Here's where the money goes in Green County. And and this is fiscal 23. And and again the the numbers are not available for 25, but in fiscal 23 before they open the floodgates, $2.2 2 million to this listing of schools 24 6.2 million and again none of that money is audited. So, and there's some additional resources there. And I think that's Yeah, that's pretty much it for my presentation. So, Andy, would you be all right if uh I made copies of this for our board? I just really couldn't see any of that on the screen. Okay. And I'm I'm okay
017if you post it on your website, too. Can we put this on the website, too? Yeah, we'll be part of the presentation. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, because and you know although we've we've won the first round of the lawsuit by having the um common please court judge um rule without a trial rule on three of the five counts. We're now facing the appeals to the 10th district court and potentially the Supreme Court. So it is important for the coalition that we gather more school districts and more people that know about this. We have more costs uh involved and it's very important that we win in the court of public opinion. And to win in the court of public opinion, we need to have more districts join. And if you want to look at some really good
018reasons uh to join, Centerville joined about 3 or 4 months ago, and they published on their website uh a a very thorough explanation of the efforts they'd gone through to work with their legislators to to try to get other things done. and it was falling on deaf ears. So they said the only thing we have left to get their attention is to sue is to join the lawsuit. Now by joining you're merely contributing to the uh the costs of us having to pay for attorneys there. there are minimal require minimal to no requirements of individuals of of the district to participate in meetings or go to Columbus or uh to uh go to you know go to trials or anything of that nature. So I guess I don't know if this was a question or
019not but let's say you win and they declare it unconstitutional. There's nothing to say that any of that money comes to us instead anyway. That is true. I mean that's un unfortunately. Yeah. Doesn't you don't you're not controlling any decision they make beyond that. So, okay, just it's just to say you can't spend the money on the ed choice expansion voucher programs because it's going to religious schools and it's, you know, it's separate systems and they're not common systems. And then the only way to continue that program then would be to pass a constitutional amendment. Um they would actually then be need for the vote of the public to agree to um plan. Yeah. And and every every state that has had something similar on the ballot, it's been resoundingly defeated. Most recently in Kentucky,
020Colorado, and uh Nebraska, I believe it was. Yeah. Fundamentally, it's a question of whether we're going to invest money in our common public schools or whether we're going to give money out to unaccountable private schools to hopefully do the right thing. Yeah. And there there were efforts in the legislature in the last session to uh initiate at least some sort of accountability requirements on this, but they died in committee. So, anybody that claims they're fiscally responsible and votes to send $1.4 billion of state money out unaccounted for, unawituded, is not being fiscally responsible. So, one of the questions you had said that if this is defeated, if they don't, you're going to still go on and fight. But for what? for for the 1.5 million Ohio students that are in public schools, I think. Are
021you asking what they what outcome are you looking for, Joan? No, I'm just saying cuz in here you said, well, we we probably have to try to initiate a constitutional amendment. Um, yeah, which question to me seems kind of silly when the constitution says you can't send money to religious schools, but here it is. What happens if the lawsuit fails? Okay, there here's the question was what happens if the lawsuit fails? We don't believe that it will fail. The Ohio Constitution is strongly on our side. If it does fail, I think that's probably where some of my typos are. the state will have another constitutional crisis in addition to limitation. I mean but there was another question if it fails you said that you would just keep fighting. Yeah. I would I would assume that
022would depend on the nature of the failure, right? I mean that it would be a judgment with some specific legal reasoning as to some way to reconcile that constitution constitutional uh text with the ed choice program and then we'd have to look at well how do how do we approach that? Yeah. Well, here it is. It says we will continue to fight for the constitutionality required funding of public schools regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit. Okay. And I would think, you know, that would probably be years out, not months out. We would have an opportunity to reevaluate as a board whether we would want to continue at that program. Remind me how many districts are currently enrolled. Uh there are I know I have about 240 that are um that are currently dues paying
023members. Uh there are over 300 that since this started in 2022 that have been members at one time or another. So we have So there's districts that have dropped out of it and what what reasoning have you have you been told for that that has happened? Sometimes it's a change in the board makeup. Sometimes it's they say we can't afford it anymore. Um there there are two tier levels of membership to the coalition. Uh one is simply being a member of the coalition and not being a uh a member of the vouchers hurt Ohio side. That is that's 50 cents per student per year. But to to support the voucher lawsuit, there's another dollar and a half per student for a total of $2 per student. And that's based on the the average daily membership
024that you uh send to the uh Department of Education. you know, um, if I may, and I'm going to be a little bit off the track of what everybody else is talking about, but it just seems to me like we've been discussing this issue for years and we still have no solution. You know, in 2008, the court said one thing. Now they're saying something else. when vouchers first came out, I'll be honest, I thought it was a really good idea because the intent in my mind was that we're going to take families that are of low income and if they if their kids are in a school district that is not performing well, they have a chance to give them an education uh so they can be successful, which I thought was a pretty dog
025on good idea in theory, but it is not working that way. And I'll quote the numbers that you just gave last year. Only 10% of the vouchers for Beaver Creek residents came from lowincome families. 90% came from families that were certainly well off enough they could be paying their own tuition. So, and I guess my my question is and you're a what, four and a half or five star rated school district? But my question is, and again this is a rhetorical question and I know you don't have your answer, but aren't we smarter than this that we've been fighting for years and years and years and we have no solution? Can't we have some common sense? And I'm not blaming our legislators. All right? But I'm just saying right now all I'm hearing is whether
026we join the coalition or we don't, there's going to be more years of I won't say fighting, but discussing back and forth. And who's losing? The kids. So there's got to be a better solution is all I'm saying. So yeah. Well, the Yeah. So in in in the last 30 years, there's been one year where the state funded more than half of the K through 12 public education expenses and that that was in Governor Strickland's time frame and it's steadily declined and it's now down to about 42%. So and we're way at the low end. I mean the beater crickets. Yeah. So yeah, there needs to be some serious discussion and you know that's what the fair school funding program was supposed to be about. They spent eight years developing it and saying what does
027it take to properly educate these students and they had you know they had members of that from broad range of school districts in Ohio. Um, and they, you know, they developed a very sound program. It, it wasn't perfect because I see, you know, I saw from your reports that they had to bump you up because the fair school funding program think that you could raise a lot more money than you've been able to. But, you know, that's that can be covered with some tweaks in the formula and taking a look at it. But to completely throw out eight years of work uh just because somebody says it's unsustainable is that's a real setback. Agreeable. One of the things that was troubling and I agree with Denny's comment about the original intent being a a a
028good a good intent and a strong and uh you know and well thought through process to help students in lowincome areas and underperforming schools because those kids get one shot and I think you know we can all agree all kids deserve a good education. Um, and unfortunately, you know, you can't when your kids in a school that's not performing, you can't afford to just wait around a couple years while the school fixes their problem. So, I understand the the thinking behind that. But in one of the charts you showed, there was actually a decline in the number of lowincome people who were uh and just the number, not even just the percentage, but the raw number went down, which suggests to me that the structure of the program is now actually um discouraging or making
029it harder for lowincome students to qualify or to be accepted or to afford. Um yeah, many many of the schools have increased their tuition. So, and so the voucher no longer covers the full and if you're Yeah. And you only the the there's another requirement or rule in the vouchers that if you're at 250% or less of the federal poverty level, the school has to accept the voucher amount as full tuition. Okay. Between 250 and 450, the families have to make up the difference. Well, actually above 250, 250% the families have to make up the difference. So, the other part of it is transportation. Oh, yeah. How how do they how do you get the kids to the schools? You know, you know, you you transport kids to, you know, private and charter schools. Fairborn
030transports. Columbus had Columbus. Columbus and Dayton have huge problems with that. Oh, we've always done that. Yeah. It's not something new. We've always when I was a teacher in Beaver Creek, we've always done that before all this came out. Well, that's it's a longstanding requirement in the state. They they passed that about probably about 30 years ago. I mean, it has nothing to do with the vouchers. Right. Right. But it is an added cost on No, I understand. Right. Yeah. I mean, I don't like it, but to be fair, they do pay taxes, too. They do. I'm not saying I think it's great that we have to do that, but those families are paying taxes, too. So, Well, and there should be better reimbursement from the state for doing that, too, because it's something they
031mandated to this isn't going to fix that be done. So, anything else? So where do you see uh the mission creep of the legislature and vouchers? What direction is it heading? I mean it's obvious on the charts that it's uh heading up up and up and up. So what's the reason? Is it just the idea of the education for children that more people are trending toward vouchers or is it something else? Um, there are key people in the general assembly that seem to want to send K through 12 education into the private network. It's true. That's what I see. So, and and they're obviously doing that by the amount of money they're spending and the policies that they're putting in place. The problem is right now the private school network doesn't have the capacity to
032take on a million and a half students. Great. So that's potentially the next they've already voiced some of the members of the general assembly have already voiced a desire to pay to construct private schools in places where there are none. Wouldn't that be a slap in the face to Yeah. Beaver Creek who needs a high school and Yeah. So on private schools that um money that you said seems to be unaccounted for is that um just money that's handed to these different uh organizations and it's not auditable or It is not auditable. There's no mechanism in the Ohio Revised Code or any of the um legislation that created these things for the state to go in and audit where the money went. So, it just goes into pure profit for those organizations. Yeah. Profit for
033the organizations or who knows what. Fancy trips, cars, lobbying of our state legislators. Yeah. Yeah. We saw that with the uh charter schools. Yeah. Um I I think this is a point um that I've heard some people confused about because we have heard about um fraud being found in in uh in some of the state's non-public school uh programs. But I think if memory serves that was a charter school, not a voucher program. That was a charter school because charter schools can be audited whereas voucher programs cannot. Okay. Any other question? Well, you have given us a lot to think about. Oh, good. I'm glad. We appreciate you coming. Sorry I had to make two trips. That's all right. I appreciate the invite. I've I've been on the road show, made a couple of presentations
034in various parts of the state. So, Thank you for answering our questions we submitted and we appreciate that. Thank you very much. And as I said, you know, feel free to put the presentation up on your website, but it's we will information anybody who has the patience to could dig up. So, Thank you very much. Appreciate it, Amy. That concludes items for discussion. Okay. Under financial reports, um I'm going to need a motion, a second to approve the following. The June 2025 financial reports, fiscal year 26 amended appropriations and certificate of resources and fiscal year 25 transfers, July 1, 2025 transfer. So moved. Second discussion. So we um finished our fiscal year end for 2024 2025 and so that was the um the final financial report um as usual that you received. Um I'm happy
035to report that we finished the year in a in a very strong financial position. Our expenditures came in slightly lower. Our revenues exceeded projections. So exactly where we want to be as responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars. Um, as you'll recall, we made the strategic decision to operate with a planned deficit spending this year. Um, this decision was driven by the significant capital needs across our district. As you've heard Mr. Alexander present those needs at prior meetings. Um, and our commitment to maintaining and renovating both our indoor outdoor facilities and purchasing needed replacement vehicles, equipment, technology. Um, the board's approval to transfer funds into our capital projects accounts will enable us to fund these essential projects that will benefit our students and community for years to come. And as you, you know, as you're out and
036about this summer, you'll see there's roofing projects, there's paving projects. we are doing a lot um to maintain our facilities as they need to be. Um I also included um with the fiscal year end highlights which is this page back here um something that you don't normally receive. Um there's two other um funds that I look at um that I keep a pretty close eye on. It's our food service operation um is one of them. It's headed up by Mr. Ashley. He also operated with a planned deficit spending um this year. Um it was necessary to address critical equipment needs throughout the district's food service kitchens. So we invested in new ovens and refrigerators across multiple locations and this equipment replacement initiative will continue into the current fiscal year. So um we will probably also
037deficit spend this year and um that's that's planned. There's a lot of equipment. Ovens are expensive. I was shocked how much commercial ovens are. I was, you know, so um and of course those commercial freezers and refrigerators and so um we're going to continue to do that. Our athletic program, I'm pleased to report that our athletic department headed by our athletic director, Mr. Pompus, increased their cash carryover by 7 12% this year. This growth is intentional as we're preparing for the upcoming replacement of the Beaver Creek High School turf field and continuing our systematic uniform replacement cycle to keep our student athletes properly equipped. Um so eventually we will see a planned deficit spending in that account also probably Tyler, what do you think in the next couple years on that turf? Yeah. um we've
038had it a while and so it's it's getting to the point where we probably will have to replace it in the next couple years. Um so our conservative fiscal approach has positioned us well to continue supporting our students educational and extracurricular needs while maintaining the facilities and equipment that make that quality programming um possible. Um are there any questions about my fiscal year end report? I have a quick question about the athletic fund. This may be inconsequential to anybody, but I just noticed the revenue was significantly lower for this year. Is that when we say revenue, is that including like gate sales and things like that? I'm just wondering if there's a reason for the It's almost $100,000 maybe I guess 83. I'd have to go in and look at that specifically. Um I haven't
039noticed that. It could be that our because we make a transfer after all of the transportation. So, we originally collect into the general fund the athletic fees, okay? And then we pay out all the transportation and then we transfer it over to athletics and it could be because of transportation that we were able to put some more buses on the road this year as compared to a prior year. So, but I can take a look at that and get an answer back to you. Thank you. Um, no, not a problem. Um, I do want to report on the on the budget process and where we are. It's not over. Um, so if you recall from the June board meeting, we discussed the state bianial budget and the items that have been included into the budget
040that would be going to Governor Dwine at the end of June for his line item veto consideration. They included a 40% cap uh for our cash carryover. The inclusion of fixed sum levies as part of the 20 mil floor. The elimination of fixed sum emergency and substitute levies. The expansion of the authority of the county budget commissions to adjust voter approved millage. The elimination of the 5-year forecast and instead making it a four-year forecast with new submission dates and a cap of 15% for administrative cost. The good news is Governor Dwine did indeed line item veto all of the aforementioned except for the 5-year forecast and the 15% admin cost cap. We are currently at 11 12%. So we are not in any kind of um jeopardy there. Um unfortunately for very small districts which
041we know of quite a few they are all up over the 15% and they have not said what the penalty will be for that. um coming from a small district um before I came here, I I knew that the minute I saw it, I was like, "Oh gosh, this hurts all of the small districts." It really does. Um so, um what Governor Dwine said um that even though the proposals were thoughtful, they represented too much too fast when it came to property taxes and how they are being used to finance schools. And I agree with assessment. But with that being said, on Monday, July 21st, which is this Monday coming up, the Ohio House will consider overriding three of Governor Dwine's line item vetos from the state budget that directly impact school district property tax
042authority and financial stability. Um the three items under consideration by the House, um he line item 67 um pieces of legislation. So, light item number 55 would allow county budget commissions to reduce voter-approved school district levies under certain circumstances. This provision would allow unelected county budget commissions to unilaterally reduce levies approved by our local voters. Such a move directly conflicts with the will of the electorate and weakens the foundation of Ohio's locally governed education system. It takes the decision making away from our local community who know their schools best. Um, the proposed reassignment of the tax rate calculations to the Ohio Department of Taxation also introduces administrative challenges that could delay or disrupt property tax collection. It will ultimately harming both schools and the taxpayers, especially for a district like ours that is locally funded
043by 78%. If we have to wait on a tax rate calculation and to get those taxes collected, then that that falls into am I going to make payroll on time. I mean, 78% of our funding comes from property tax collections. They can't be late. We have or or we'll have to go out for a loan. Well, we have to have a bigger carryover. Yes. But that's your next or bigger carryover, which you know they're you know um so that Yeah, that's not going to happen. Yeah. Um, so I've got a quite a big of concern with that one. Line item number 65 would include a district's emergency and fixed sum levies in the 20 mil floor calculation for school funding. The governor vetoed this provision, noting the need for a comprehensive property tax reform through
044a working group rather than peace meal changes. Including these levies as part of the 20 mil 4 would actually create more volatility and increase the frequency of levy campaigns as we would be forced to go back to the voters more frequently as we would no longer receive the growth on those 20 mills given during a reappraiser reappraisal or trienal update cycle. It would it would cause more voter fatigue. We're going to have to go back more often if they include those into the 20 mil floor. Line item veto number 66. It would elimin eliminate key levy tools that districts rely on, including what we just talked about, the emergency and the substitute levies, those fix some levies. They want to take them away from us completely. We would no longer be able to use those.
045Dwine vetoed this because these tools are essentials for the school district's long-term financial stability. If these levies are eliminated, we would no longer have renewal levies to put on the ballot. They would instead be described as new levies. This would take a lot of education for us to our voters to help them understand that we would no longer be listing our levies on the ballot as renewals even if essentially that's what they are. It would and you know and and you very often hear well I'm going to vote for it cuz it's a renewal you know and and so you know and that's a great thing for us but if they take that from us it would take an awful lot of education on our parts um for the voters. Um, so Governor Dwine is
046committed to comprehensive property tax reform through an inclusive working group that includes legislators, agency officials, school officials, community members, and property tax experts to ensure this critical topic is giving the attention needed. I support honoring his vetos and preserving the flexibility that districts need to remain good stewards of public funds while this broader reform takes effect. Um, and I will get you the um, emails again if you want to email our legislators. Um, I'll also copy you in on the letter that I've written. Um, asking that they, you know, let the process play out that Governor Dwine wants to put into place. They're trying it. It almost feels like they're throwing things at a wall and and seeing if they'll stick and what the um, ramifications will be. And if, you know, and and that's
047scary to me. We need we need a plan. We need a real process here for property tax reform. I it needs to happen. I agree with that. I just don't agree with the way in which they did it. Um so and in that way I I agree with Governor Dwine. So um and that is my report for tonight unless there's any question. Okay. Okay. Please call the vote. Mrs. Reggano. Yes. Mrs. Hunt. Yes. Mr. Taylor, yes. Mr. Morrison, yes. And Dr. Fischer, yes. Thank you. Okay. Under you business, I'm going to need a motion, a second to approve the following. The employment salary changes, leaves of absence, and terminations. A is certified board report and B is classified board report. Updated fiscal year 26 administrator salary scheduled to include director of public relations. Approval of
048board of education meeting date change. That's Thursday, December 18th, 2025 to Tuesday, December 16th, 2025. Beaver Creek Schools employee expected behaviors 2025 2026 and initial fiscal year 26 payment in lie of transportation. So move second discussion. Now the only item I would like to draw the board's attention to is one you've seen every year since I've been here. uh was that item for um I believe we started that maybe the year before I arrived and and um so this is a document that we asked the board uh to sign in support of the document itself has not changed and uh we provide that to our staff as part of their training each year. So other than that everything else is pretty routine on that list for this time of year. Any other discussion? Okay, please
049call the vote. Mrs. Hunt, yes. Mr. Mr. Taylor, yes. Mr. Morrison, yes. Dr. Fischer, yes. And Mrs. Herbana, yes. Thank you. And we're into announcements. So, August 12th, it's the employee benefits fair, 7:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Opening day meeting for all staff, 8:30 a.m. at Beaver Creek High School. August 18th is the first day of school for grades 6 through 12. August 18th and 19th for grades 1 through 56 staggered start. August 18th is A through L and August 19th M through Z. August 20th and 21st is kindergarten stay a good start. August 21st is the next board of education meeting 6:30 right here. And August 25th and 26th is the Beaver Creek Preschool Center staggered start. Okay. And board comments. Mrs. Height. I don't think I really have anything. Okay. Well, you can
050just carry on. Okay. Mr. Taylor. Okay. Well, first off, I really appreciate the presentation that you gave. It gave us facts figures to uh operate off of which were very important to have. and um looking forward to the new staff members coming in every year. That's always so exciting to see people that are willing to uh step up and fill positions at our in our school system. And I know uh you've done a great job picking those of course um from the career center. Nothing great is going on. Just normal uh summer stuff approvals and things like that. And that's about it. Dr. Fiser. Thanks. Um I'll second the thank you to Mr. Wilson for coming out to talk to us today. um helpful to um see the presentation and have a discussion about uh
051you know the uh the what's happening to our state tax dollars with this money going out the door to um the voucher program. Um also have a hard time believing that it's almost the new school year already that's uh coming up so incredibly fast. Um and I'm sure you all feel the same way. Um but I'm excited for the the new start of the school year. We always have such a a great program and it's a lot of fun to see the uh enthusiasm amongst our staff and our students as we get back together and and uh do our mission which is educating all the students of Beaver Creek. Um so that's all Mr. Morrison. Okay. Thank you. Uh I'll be the third one to say thank you Mr. Wilson. Definitely appreciate you being here
052and sharing your knowledge with us this evening. Definitely appreciate that. So thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule. Also want to congratulate Miss Kits Miller. I I love hearing that our expenditures came in lower than expected and our revenues came in higher than expected. I love I love hearing that. And then in order I know we're being extremely fiscally prudent watching our taxpayer dollars. So thank you so much for that. And then I'd like to know what your secret is on investment income because the investment income is phenomenal of what we're receiving. So, I think that's great. And then also, I mean, I I like to run and I run early every morning and I can tell you that I cannot go anywhere that I do not see cross country runners and
053I'm talking hundreds of them running early in the morning. So, it's awesome. So, kudos to Mr. Howard Russ. Okay. And once again, thank you so much for coming. We really appreciate you taking the time to come talk to us. You've given us a lot to think about and um I hope everybody's having a great summer. Those of you traveling, hope you're having a good time. Um and all I can say is can't wait for the new school year to start. I'm sure the teachers are going really know it's like I can hear like the summer's almost gone but they're always excited to come back to get our kids excited and that's always a good thing. So with that I need a motion a second to take us into executive session for the employment employment compensation
054and discipline of public employees Ohio revised code 121.22 22 G1. So move second. Okay. Call the vote to take us in. Please take us. All the vote. Mr. Morrison. Yes. Dr. Fischer. Yes. Mrs. Organo. Yes. Mrs. Hunt. Yes. And Mr. Taylor. Yes. And we are in at 7:24. [Music]