001I don't I don't have one of those voices people want to listen to. >> Good. >> Do you have listed? That's what I was going to say. I can get it. I got it. Let me get it. Oh, for a minute I thought you said 17. We're in trouble. It's going to be a long one. All right. Uh, let's stand for the pledge. I alian 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. >> All right, we no one signed in to speak, so we'll uh start with roll call. Mr. Weise >> here. >> Mr. Moon >> here. >> Mrs. Wner >> here. >> M. Barton >> here. >> Mrs. Bennett >> here. >> All right.
002It is recommended that the Waterl Board of Education adopt the following agenda for February 12th, 2026 regular meeting. Need a motion? >> I'll motion. >> I'll second. Ryan. >> Uh, Mr. Moon. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mrs. Whittenholder. >> Yes. >> Miss Barton, >> yes. >> Mrs. Bennett, >> yes. >> Mr. Wise, >> yes. Motion passes. Uh, President's report. Uh, I wanted to talk about how big of a success I thought the uh, PTO reverse raffle was. It was awesome to see the turnout. The whole place, you couldn't have fit any more people on it. And I don't know how much money you guys ended up raising, but >> Wow. >> It seemed like you guys did really, really well. Um, and it was cool, too. I mean, you got Liz put in a ton of
003work. Uh, Whitney put in a ton of work. I know. So, and lots of other people, I'm sure. >> Interruption. If you are here for the eighth grade meeting, it is down in the middle school elementary school cafeteria. Thank you. But it was really cool to uh see the first year I think that event's taking place and the first time we've had a reverse raffle. I know the booster club used to do one that was a pretty cool event. It was cool to see everyone that showed up. I saw some teachers there, some administrators. That was really neat, too. So, um that was good job on the PTO. And then uh basketball got a big big win the other night. Beat Modor. Uh I thought it was sort of proof of concept maybe a little
004bit that we can compete with some of these teams we're going to be playing. Um so congratulations to the boys basketball team. And uh it's conference night. See a lot of people walking in and out of the building. That's neat, too. So that's pretty much all I have. Um, superintendent report some of the things that just we would like to share and congratulations. Recently we honored some of our educators at the summit portage all-star teaching and during that point in time we had Mrs. Lewis who was honored as an all-star teacher of the year. Also Mr. Durgan for his lifetime achievement and Miss Ranoff for rookie of the year. So, three excellent educators. We're very proud of each and every one of them. They've been they've been wonderful. Some of the things that uh we're
005currently working on is we've we've put some one of my goals is put some infrastructure in place for shared leadership. We have our district leadership team, our PBIS team, and we also have our labor management team in place. They've been working on some things. So more what we're going to see coming up is more emphasis on one of our district leadership team goals which is chronic absenteeism. And chronic absenteeism is for a student that miss 10% or more of instruction throughout the year. And that could be for any reason excused unexcused medical even disciplinary action. So, our leadership team is is working on that and that leadership team is comprised of not just our administrators but also educators and pair professionals throughout the district. There has been some questions about snow days and the hours.
006We are pretty good on ours still. We still have some some wiggle room with that even though we've had quite a bit of snow days up to this point. Uh for grades 7 through 12, they need 101 hours. We are we are in good shape with that one. The other one that will start getting close is our seniors and we still have some days to play with if we have additional snow days in the future. So that's uh superintendent report. >> All right. Thanks Mr. Gant. Uh junior junior and high school principal report. So, um, we had, I know I mentioned this, uh, meeting, but we had our junior high spelling meet because of all these snow days. Uh, so we did have it on Tuesday the 3rd. Uh, I just wanted to say with
007that, congratulations to AJ. He won this nominee. Um, and then Holly Beg and Ken were our second and third place uh, winners. All three of them are able to represent water at Portage County B. Um that will take place in Garrettsville Middle School on February 14th. So two days if they choose to from there they can go to back and then it'll be script. So this all feeds up to um we're starting to work on master scheduling. I know, you know, uh last meeting was the uh approving of the course descriptions. Um so we're working on that. Miss Richard and I will be working a good portion of tomorrow when students are not in the building uh on getting that all sort of situated. The earlier that we have that done, the more time there
008is to work through conflicts and that makes a smoother transition into the next school year. So that's the goal. Mrs. Albe has been meeting with different uh grade levels they to get their course requests from there. That kind of drives the class that we offer. Uh and then one last thing. So this is this would have to be a separate thing that we would approve maybe a little bit later. Um but I'm talking with two of our teachers. Uh there's a possibility that uh you know restructuring some of their uh time that we could add newspaper courses. Um so these would be like studentr run newspapers. uh one at the junior high and one high school. Um both of them seem on board. We just have to kind of work out the logistics of what
009that looks like. Um I think that that's one of the things we have missing right now that could uh have some of that old school student expression uh sort of data interview people write you know investigative reports not maybe not investigate but you know uh do some research write about it uh and those sorts of things that and then also traditional kind of communication speech type class. um we have something like that right now, but building that back up and having those two kind of like old pillars of school experience I think would be really good. So I'll have more information on that as we kind of hammer out details and talk about that. But yeah, that's my report. >> All right. Thank you. Um and then we have the elementary school principal report. >>
010I'm really proud of the information that I'm going to share. Um at this point in time of the school year, we have 175 students who have been recognized for following the Viking way. Um this is any staff member can refer students for demonstrating responsibility, safety or kindness, which is the Viking way. Um they use a Viking pride card which is part of our PBIS framework. Last year there were 129 referrals for the entire year. So having 175 at this time is really awesome. Um we're really moving forward with that. Additionally, we are seeing decreasing discipline referrals over the course of three years of data. In 23 24, we had 103 decision referrals. In 2425, we had 68. And right now, we're sitting at about 31 with maybe 70 days of school left. So, that's really
011positive, too. We're really proud of that. And then I'm going to second the PTO. Uh repetition continues to be amazing. Um really awesome how much momentum has been gained in just a short amount of time with the team in place. Um the mobile planetarium was a huge hit with students and staff. The first annual reverse raffle was sold out. It's such a huge success. Um and a short time ago all of district staff were treated with an enormous charco which is really fancy um to be able to nibble on during conference night. We appreciate them so much. That's all I have. >> All right. Thank you. And then legislative report. Do we have anything? >> Um, I don't want to act like I understand this yet. So, I'm going to be frank. I have spent
012a lot of time reading about the property tax stuff that I know Ryan is going to talk about. And I don't want to I want to be able to speak about in a way that makes sense to people, myself included, that aren't uh experts in finance and property taxes, and I'm not there yet. Um, but this stuff, a lot of this goes into effect in March for 2025 um the 2025 tax year. So, I think Ryan and I can talk about that when we if we get together and then I can talk more about it. But for now, I just don't want to talk about that. And some of the some of that is going to be we're going to go over some of that tonight to try to explain it a little bit better.
013So >> to be fair to you, Liz, the people that voted on it >> don't understand. >> Well, that's what we talked about our last meeting when you said you met with the county auditor and they were all like, "We can't tell you anything yet." So >> y There is one there's one thing that um has changed that will impact us a little bit is the kindergarten age. >> Oh yeah. So that that's one that you know we had a set date now it's based on the first day of >> basically instruction or first day of school for that's when it's kindergarten of age school age so that will change for us year to year. >> All right. Thank you. Uh, Maplewood. >> Um, so I don't have very much, but I did want to
014remind you guys, and I don't know if you have to vote on it again, but I was supposedly supposed to be three years instead of one year. So that I think was supposed to be on the agenda for today, but it's not on the agenda. I don't see it. >> Okay. >> Um, the Maplewood term is three years. >> Three years. Okay. And I was going to point it out at the last board meeting, but somebody wouldn't stop talking, so I couldn't say anything. Um, so that I just wanted to bring that up that it's supposed to be three years and you guys voted on one year. >> Yeah. >> Um, >> the other things that I have, um, Cameron Lynn is the student of the month. She is a senior here. Um the construction
015on the new um lab to bring in the new programming those that has been started. So we've started that and it should be completed for next school year. Um the first year I think they're still bringing in another welding class. So they'll have two welding labs and then they'll be extending more for the following year. He would like to bring in um fire an EMT and then he also talked about bringing in um like a we tried to do that a couple years ago but nobody signed up for the class. So he's hoping to promote it more and bring that back in. Um the I think I mentioned this last month, the um senior awards practice is at 1:00 on May 26th and then the graduation is at 7 o'clock at the Max Center on
016the 27th. Um April 8th is Cupcakes with Teachers, which is for all um new incoming students. they get to go and meet all their teachers and um it's kind of like an open house. Uh spring break is March 30th to April 2nd. And I think that might Oh no, one other thing. Um Maplewood's associate schools are required to provide some middle school career technical programming, which I don't know if that's a new thing. Is it always been a thing? Um, so Maplewood staff will be working with them to assist in the process. A meeting is going to be scheduled as a group with an individual from the Ohio Department of Education and then they will give more details about that. So that's all I have. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, new business.
017Anyone have any new business? >> Do we want to vote on her for years? I don't mind. >> Yeah, we we can. >> So, what I would suggest doing is um I'll need a motion in a second from somebody to amend the agenda. Yeah. >> And we'll vote on that >> and then we'll >> um add her to her to the three-year term and vote on that. >> Go ahead, Tim. >> All right. Motion to amend the agenda. >> Motion to amend the agenda. >> I'll second. So, this is a motion to amend the agenda to vote on the the three-year term rather than the one-year term that we voted on last last meeting. I'll let Ryan stop right first. Um, Mr. Moon. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wise, >> yes. >> Miss Bennett, >> yes.
018>> Miss Barton, >> yes. >> And Mrs. Whitner, >> yes. >> Okay. Then I'll need a motion and a second to appoint um Heather Hakon to a three-year Maplewood representative term. >> A motion to appoint Heather as three-year term for Maplewood. I'll >> second. and Mrs. Bennett. >> Yes. >> Mr. Moon. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wise. >> Yes. >> Miss Whittener. >> Yes. >> Miss Barton. >> Yes. >> All right. Motion passes. >> Thank you, Heather. >> Thanks, Heather. Uh any other new business speak? All right. Superintendent's business. >> All right. Under superintendent's business, letter A is a recommend to raise the following substitute rates for bus driver substitute rate to 1727 an hour. For van driver, nonCDL substitute rate to 14.88 88 an hour, an aid cafeteria secretary substitute rate from $11 to 1334
019an hour, and custodian utility substitute rate to $14.34. >> So, I I believe the idea here is we're trying to be a little bit more competitive with neighboring districts and getting the subs uh that we need to operate. Yeah. So, so yeah. So, to clarify some of this, the bus driver, van driver, this makes us a little bit more competitive. So, if we were able to have someone that already currently has a CDL, they can step right in and make a almost base zero um you know, price or salary for that. for aid cafeteria and secretary. One of the issues that we've had in the past is the competitive between whether someone's gonna substitute aid or substitute teacher. This allows those rates to be equivalent and so it doesn't penalize a person that instead of
020being a substitute teacher, they're a substitute aid. So those rates are equivalent and then uh the custodian rate is typically slightly higher than the other rates. Can we have uh any other questions, comments? Uh can we have a motion? >> A motion. >> I'll second, sir. >> Who Who was the second? >> What was it? >> Uh Mr. Moon. >> Yes. >> Miss Barton. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Bennett. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Whittener. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wise. >> Yes. All right. For letter B is to recommend to approve the resignation of the following individuals. Uh David Moore for bus driver, David Moore for cafeteria assistant, and Renee Jackson, teacher. >> And can we have a motion? >> A motion. >> I'll second. >> Mrs. Whitolder. >> Yes. >> Miss Barton. >> Yes. >> Mr.
021Moon. >> Yes. Mr. Rise, >> yes. >> Mrs. Bennett, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Letter C is a recommend to approve the following retirements. Land Ritz teacher effective May 31st, 2026 after 30 years of service. >> And can we have a motion? >> A motion. I'll second. >> It was a second. I'm sorry. It was Okay. Ryan, >> Mrs. Bennett, >> yes. >> Miss Barton, >> yes. >> Mr. Moon, >> yes. >> Mrs. Whittener, >> yes. >> Mr. Weise, >> yes. >> Okay. Letter D is to recommend to approve a one-year limited contract for Jackie Murdoch, aid, step 8, effective February 1st, 2026. Can we have a motion to recommend and approve a one-year loaned contract for Jackie Murdoch? >> I'll make that motion. >> I'll second. >> Can you say what step eight
022means? >> Is that they're given nine years of experience in that that role. >> So step zero would be the first entry. >> Thank you. >> Right. Mr. Moon, >> yes. >> Mrs. Whitten Soldier, >> yes. >> Mrs. Bennett, >> yes. >> Miss Barton, >> yes. >> Mr. Wise, >> yes. >> Motion passes. Letter E to recommend to approve a one-year limited contract to Lee Harris bus driver step 13 effective February 2nd, 2026. >> I can wait for you to >> Yeah. Can we have a motion to recommend to approve a one-year limited contract for Lee Harris? >> Motion. I will second run. >> Mholder. >> Yes. >> Mr. Moon. >> Yes. >> Miss Barton. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bennett. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wise. >> Yes. Motion passes. >> Letter F is a recommend
023to approve the following certified sub. Lauren Lynn. >> Uh, can we get a motion to recommend to approve the following certified sub, Lauren Lynn? A motion. >> Do you have a second? >> I'll second. >> That was Lizette with the second. >> I've been watching. >> Go ahead. Ryan, >> Mrs. Bennett, >> yes. >> Miss Barton, >> yes. >> Mr. Moon, >> yes. >> Mrs. Whittens Holder. >> Yes. >> Mr. Rise. >> Yes. Motion passes. Letter G is to recommend to issue supplemental contracts to the following for the 2526 school year contingent upon full and complete compliance with the state of Ohio and Waterlue Board of Education eligibility criteria. Mackenzie Kenir for assistant softball coach. Gavin Corbett, assistant baseball coach. Bradley Norris, assistant baseball coach. Kyle Blitz, volunteer coach. Bo Cookie, volunteer baseball. Susan Martin,
024assistant high school track. Brady Jones, assistant middle school track. Christina Guth, an assistant middle school track. >> All right. Can we get a motion to recommend the supplemental contracts for 25 and 26? >> A motion. >> And do we have a second? >> I'll second. >> Angelo and Ryan. >> Mrs. Bennett. >> Yes. >> Miss Barton. >> Yes. >> Mr. Moon. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wise. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Whittener. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. >> Letter H is a recommend to approve the following teachers for after school tutor in a rate of $30 an hour. Jennifer Bixler, Elizabeth Hayes, and Nicole Lewis. >> And can we have a motion to recommend to approve the following teachers for uh after school tutoring? >> Motion. >> I'll second Ryan. Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Moon. >>
025Yes. >> Miss Barton. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bennett. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wise. >> Yes. >> Okay. Letter I. If you have further questions on letter I, I can discuss those in that discussion period. Recommend to approve the following. Remote learningou between Waterlue Board of Education and WA for the 2026 school year. Waterlue. Another one.Uou Waterlue Local School District Board of Education and the Ohio Association of Public School Employees. WAPSY local 575 minimum hours for a bus driver for the 2526 school year. Akran Universityou for CCP classes for the 2627 school year and Stark State Collegeou for CCP classes for the 2627 school year. Uh, do we have a motion to approve those? >> A motion. >> I'll second. >> Uh, any questions on that before we vote? >> Brian, >> Miss Bennett, >> yes.
026>> Mrs. Whittenholder, >> yes. >> Miss Barton, >> yes. >> Mr. Moon, >> yes. >> Mr. Wise, >> yes. Motion passes. Letter J is to recommend to approve Learnwell services for a student currently enrolled through March. >> And can we have a motion to recommend to approve learn well services? >> A motion. >> I'll second. >> All right. >> Miss Bennett. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Whittenholder. >> Yes. >> Mr. Moon. >> Yes. >> Miss Barton. >> Yes. >> Mr. Rise. >> Yes. Motion passes. >> Okay. Letter K is to recommend the approval of a temporary waiver of Waterlue athletic fees for the 26 2026 spring sports for athletes that have paid a fall and/or winter athletic fee in full during the 2526 school year. >> All right. Do we have a motion to uh wave
027the paytoplay fees for the spring sports? >> I'll make that motion. >> Uh do we have a second? >> I'll second. >> Does anyone have any questions before we vote on this? >> I don't know if we were kind of not doing that. Didn't we discuss we weren't doing that? I was thinking that we did. Maybe we didn't. >> I think we had a discussion about the feasibility of it last meeting. Um Ryan had some data that he got to us last week. >> Um so the cost of this, >> this is what I asked Ryan if he could share this with us. So, I asked how much does spring sports pay to participation bring in and how much of that comes from a student who was already paid in the fall and can we
028afford to do that? And so, um I wrote this down in 23 24 it was like $4,700 and in 2425 it was $49.50 50. And that's out of the total like $11,000 last year of spring sports, >> 49 was from students who had already paid a fall sport. So then my question was, is the athletic budget fine enough to do that if we don't have $5,000? But $5,000 doesn't seem like a lot, but it might be. The idea behind this would be as we discussed would be to see if it makes a difference uh for participation. Uh I think I don't know if we >> how are we going to know that? >> Well, we we know what participation was last year and this would be waved in time before the end of the winter
029sports. So, we would assume that if there was an uptick in particip participation in spring sports this year in seventh through uh 12th grade that it did make some difference. Um >> and then we would evaluate paytoplay for the following school year. >> It's a use it as a test case to see if it does signal increased participation if there's a fee change. And the idea was to yeah evaluate what it looks like and then if if it does make an impact what can we do to maybe re-evaluate paytoplay in the future for next year. >> And that would that that could look a lot of different ways. It could look like, you know, doing away with paytoplay, changing the amounts of paytoplay. Um, I mean there's lots of different >> Didn't we used to
030have to sell something or I mean we used to have to do something although we weren't paying to play then either but >> yeah I and that would be something too that you know we could examine is can we >> must not we as the board but are there any organizations outside of the of the board of education that would maybe donate? Is there ways to fund some of offset some of the costs through other uh means of revenue, donations, whatever? Um that I I think that would be a discussion for a later date. Um this was just sort of like a pilot program for um >> spring to see >> if it if it does make a difference because I think what we kind of determined was that spring sports last year were the
031most uh under represented >> in terms of paying. >> No. Well, in terms of everything participation and of paying >> participation, it decreased. There's not many as many sports available. We have baseball, track, softball. >> But but if I remember correctly, the track numbers last year were really, really low. >> For 2425, grades 9 through 12, we had 21 baseball players, 11 softball players, and 31 track. >> And also, I misspoke. Spring 2425 total participation was $8,893 of which $4,950 was from a student who had already paid to play a fall sport. >> Yeah. The 11,000 was the previous year. >> Yeah. Yep. >> So with that information Okay. >> Do you guys have any other questions on it? >> No, I think if we can try it out and see how it goes. Um,
032I'm I said as long as it's not taking away from anything else, then I'm cool. But if it would take away from something else, then I would not be cool. >> I would be concerned how we're going to track that that we got more because that or if it was because we have kids that moved up and they're more interested >> more interested. I don't know. >> Maybe. >> Yeah. I mean, it would be like, you know, uh, like tracking any kind of marketing. It's >> you can attribute it to Yeah, there's multiple variables. We won't 100% get it right, but we will, you know, hopefully we've already had our track meetings and we've had signups, but you know, from here on out, you know, typically you have the kids that are going to play
033baseball are going to play baseball. Students that are going to play softball are going to play softball typically. You might have some that don't because of the pay structure, but for for track will be a really good indication if we have additional students from the years past, you know, who >> Yeah. I'm assuming Liz's number 33 was for boys and girls track, which I mean that's >> that's like, you know, that's not enough to >> that's not enough to field every uh probably every event for either either team. So, >> and we're going to have an in we're going to have a probably greater middle school presence because we have two coaches that work within the building. So those numbers, so you talk about variables, we're going to have a greater middle school size because
034of the influence of the individuals working in the building. So we can't just directly attribute it to that they played football or or cheered or played basketball. But so it will be hard hard to isolate the variable, but we know that we have a participation problem at this point in time. We have to get more kids out for for stuff. This sounds like a good project for a high school class to analyze. Maybe one of Kyle's classes. >> You have a stats class >> statistics. Yeah. Our athletic director is looking at the meeting through the window and uh this will be part of her part of her duties. >> All right. Ryan. >> Mr. Moon. >> Yes. >> Miss Barton. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Bennett. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Whitten Soldner. >> Yes. >> Mr.
035rise. >> Yes. Motion passes. >> All right. That moves us to uh treasures business. Right. >> Okay. Um like to recommend to approve the January meeting minutes. >> A motion. I'm sorry. >> Oh, sorry. Sorry. Can we have a motion to recommend to approve the January meeting minutes? >> I'll motion. >> I'll second. I'll second. >> Sorry. and Ryan. >> Mr. Moon, >> yes. >> Mrs. Bennett, >> yes. >> Miss Barton, >> yes. >> Mr. Miss Mrs. Whitten Holden, >> yes. >> Mr. Wise, >> yes. >> Like to recommend to approve the January financials. >> Do we have a motion to recommend to approve January's financials? >> Motion. >> Do we have a second? Patty and Ryan. >> M Spartan. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Whitener. >> Yes. >> Mr. Moon. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wise.
036>> Yes. >> Mrs. Bennett. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. >> Like to recommend to accept the anonymous donation of $1,200 to the baseball program. Can we have a motion to accept a $1,200 anonymous donation? >> Motion. >> I'll second. >> Mrs. Whitolder. >> Yes. >> M. Barton? >> Yes. >> Mr. Moon? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Bennett? >> Yes. >> Mr. Wise? >> Yes. Motion passes. >> Like to recommend to accept the donation of a new pitching machine from the Lewis and Cookie families. Could we have a motion to accept the donation of a new pitching machine from the Lewis and Cookie families? >> A motion. >> I'll second >> Mrs. Whitener. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Bennett. >> Yes. >> Miss Barton. >> Yes. >> Mr. Moon. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wise. >> Yes. Motion passes.
037>> Like to recommend to approve a contract for internet services with Spark for the 2627 school year. >> Can we have a motion to recommend to approve our contract for internet services through Spark for 26 and 27? >> A motion. >> I'll second. Ryan, >> Mrs. Bennett. >> Yes. >> Mr. Moon. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Whittenholder. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wise. >> Yes. >> Miss Barton. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. >> Like to recommend to approve the forecast as presented. >> All right. Um, >> can we have a motion to approve the forecast? Hello. >> I'll second. >> Do we want to vote on that? >> No. Um I'll I'll do my presentation and then you can vote. >> Here we go. >> Um so um I'm gonna stay here for this since I have
038to control the slides too. Um, I'm gonna before I get into this, I want to start this off by saying that um we've had several recent tax law changes that um the governor has signed into law, but they don't go into effect until next month. Um so, and with them moving the forecast dates, um it used to be November and May when we had to submit. Now it's um it's going to be August and February. Um, that's really poor timing. Um, we're just starting to get our tax advances for the first half of this year. We haven't received them all in yet. Um, and we're only 62% of the way through the year. Um, so it's really hard to tell how the rest of the year is going to go expense-wise. Um, spring can get
039expensive when it comes to, you know, sports, traveling, um, makeup games, you know, different things going on there. Um and uh so so there there's there's a lot of variables yet that have not happened. Um so this is a best guess as to the information we have right now. Um what I'm proposing we do is um because we have to file this by the end of the month. Um that we'll go through this, we'll approve it, I'll submit it and then we'll do an update in May. Um that should have a little bit clearer of a picture as to where we stand financially more so than what where we have right now. Um to just explain that. Um so the uh purpose of the forecast is to um engage the board and community um in
040long range planning. Um, it also gives the treasurer the authority to be able to say, um, yes, I can sign off that we'll have money in three years to pay our employees, however long the contract is. Um and uh and and the Ohio Department of Education also uses this to um determine if um districts are um in need of assistance um by way of fiscal caution, watch, emergency, whatever. Um that the idea is to get in there before you're in trouble and try to straighten it out. Um so the forecast helps do that. Um, like I said, this is um this is just a tool. It's only as good as the information that we can put into it. Um, this time of year is kind of hard to hard to really tell. Um, but we
041we've given I've given the best guess as we can um in the numbers that are presented to you today. Um, we are it is divided into two sections. You have your revenue up top, your expenses at the bottom. um the difference between the two. Um ideally you would like to at least be balanced to where you're not spending more than you're bringing in. Um but um state legislature likes to mess with that. So that makes it very difficult on our end to to try to balance things. Um our two main sources of revenue are uh state and state revenue and then local taxes. Um it's about a it's somewhere in the neighborhood of a 45 to 49 split. Um with local being the bigger of the two um and then the remainder comes from other
042sources and uh federal funding. Uh expenditures the main um components to expenditures are salary and benefits um and uh then the rest is made up through purchase services and supplies materials. Um this is just kind of a a a visualization of the of the numbers that I've given you. Um the uh the red line shows the expenses growing. Revenue is blue line showing that we're going to be um roles are going to be reversed or we're going to be spending more than we're bringing in. Um, and then the ending balance in green there, um, shows, um, to be able to stay afloat during this time, we're going to be using our cash reserves, um, to get us through it. Um, so, our four our four big tax bills, um, they were signed into law um,
043back in December. Um, they take it they take it back March 19th. Um, and the the specifics here, I I'll get into those um on their respective slides. Um, House Bill 129 um was one of the four. It targets um districts that were on the 20 mil floor. We were on the 20 mil floor before this. Um in the 20 mil floor calculation, emergency levies were always excluded from that calculation. Now they're included. Um so that brings us up off of the 20 mil floor. Um, in the simplest terms that I can explain it, the 20 mil floor. When when when a district finds itself onto the 20 mil floor, you get all of the growth that you're due. Um, when you're off of the 20 mil floor, you only get the pr-rated portion um
044until you get to the 20 mil floor. Um, so that that kind of changes things. Um, we're back up off of the 20 mil floor. I think we're going to be at 23 if I remember correctly. We were right at 20 um before this. Um, so that's that's where some of this uh some of this loss is going to come from. um uh emergency levies that were approved before 2026, in which case ours was, um can be renewed as a fixed sum current operating expense levy for up to five years. Um and it also removes the option to renew multiple emergency levies, but we don't have multiple at this point in time. Um and those changes go into effect starting in May. House Bill 186 um for the districts that were not on the 20
045mil floor um or even the ones that are, it does cap inflation growth to um to GDP um inflation. So, if we have a 30% increase in property tax values when they go through a reappraisal or re-evaluation, um you used to get the 30%. Um now it's going to be tied to inflation. So, if inflation is only 10%, you're only getting 10%. Um and within House Bill 186, there's a little retroactive piece to it. Um, so those counties that went through a reappraisal or an update in 2023 or 2024, um, they're going to use a look back period to essentially take the money back, um, and credit it back. The issue with that is there's absolutely no guidance on how to do that at this point in time. So, um, the county commissioners, the county
046auditor, county treasur, um, we met with them back before Christmas. They have no idea how they're going to do that. Um, but it'll have to happen for the second half of 2026. So, um, as you start getting your property tax bills in June, July, um, most likely it's going to be a credit on there. So, it'll lower what what's due come the second half. Um, because most counties don't have an efficient way to refund everybody. Um, so it'd be probably easier to issue a credit. Um, Portage County went through a reappraisal and update back in 2024. Um, so we're going to have that look back period in there. One saving grace in this is that, um, they did write into this bill that, um, Iowa Department of Education will absorb some of that loss. Um,
047so whatever funding guarantee we had back in 2024, they're going to give it to us for 26 and 27. So that'll help offset that cost a little bit. that'll save us a little bit um in in that aspect. Um the um uh with that though, the Ohio Department of Taxation has been tasked with giving out a formula to all the counties um so that this way there's not 88 different ways of um issuing a refund or issuing a credit. Um they have yet to come out with that. um calculation. Um it has to be out by April. Um so that the county auditors can have it calculated for July. Um that's what makes um doing the forecast right now a little bit difficult too because there is no there's no there's no way of telling.
048It's it's a best guess as to how it's going to happen. Um, one positive thing is that, um, changes to the roll back structure, homestead and roll back, um, and owner occupancy credits, um, is not going to affect us. It's going to be pretty much a costneutral change. Um, so that's one positive thing on our end. Um, House Bill 309, um, expanded budget commission's power to, um, be able to deny, um, collections So, we have levies that have been passed um here and if they feel that it's unnecessary or it's excessive, they can choose to not collect on our behalf. Um which kind of overrides our authority as a board to say we need an X amount mill levy. The voters passed it. They approved it. Now budget commissioners can have the authority to not
049follow through with it. Um, one saving graces that we did during our meeting before Christmas, um, the county auditor assured us that the, uh, Portage County Commission has no plans on doing that. They expect us to submit our tax budget like we did last month and they're relying on us to tell them yes, we need the money. Um, so hopefully there's no issues there. And then House Bill 335, cap inside millillage growth. It's basically the same as what House Bill 186 was. Um just dealing with the inside millage growth, capping it to inflation. So instead of having that 30% increase um during one year, if inflation's 10%, you're only getting 10% on the inside millage, too. Um so with that being said, um there there's there's a lot of moving parts to this. There's a
050lot of stuff that has not been figured out yet. Um, and that's why I feel that it's more practical to go through the motions, submit this, and we'll do an update in May. We're not required to submit an update in May. It's totally optional, but I feel that we need to have the discussions anyways. Um, and then based on how you guys feel about this, if we need to have some sessions and some discussion further, um, we can certainly do that. Um, one of the other things, um, House Bill 96, which wasn't included in the original four, um, there's no increase in foundation funding from the state to offset any of this, um, with the exception of the guarantee for the next two years. Um, one part of it is that they look at total
051growth. That part didn't change. So, if they see 30% growth, they're assuming you're getting 30% growth, even if it's only 10. They're looking at 30. So, they're not going to pick up the tab beyond 20%. Um, next fiscal year is going to be the hardest hit because of the um the the payback piece of it, the the credit or refund part. Um because it's not just looking at that year moving forward, it's looking backwards, too. Um so next year, um you can see on the print out there where we're we're we're down $700,000. And that's and that's a an estimate. That's a guess. Um, and so, um, a general rule of thumb when it comes to the forecast is, um, we're we're going to stick with using a five-year for now. Um, they they changed
052it to where it's a current and then a three-year that you have to submit. Um, five years worked. I don't know why they changed it, but they did. Um, it's not uncommon for districts to be in the red year five. There's a lot of things that factor into that. and then compound through the four years into that fifth year. Um it starts to get a little worrisome when you start seeing red in year four. It's a problem when it's in year three. Um so we will need to start having some discussions on what we want to do, where we want to go with things um sooner rather than later. um already. Okay, so it's 54% was locally funded um versus um versus about 46. Um wages and benefits um are the two most costly things
053um that we spend money on. Um but it's at uh around 72% which is actually pretty good. Um the state recommends you stay below 80. Um once you get over 80, they start getting a little more panicked on your behalf. Um so we're we're we're sitting okay there. Um however, costs will continue to grow um as we've gone through a a decent amount of inflation over the last four or five years. Um costs have really rose. it's really eaten into any into any uh revenue that we've got to pull in. Um and now we're being capped on our revenue. So that that's going to make things a little more difficult. Um we um we definitely need to try to keep our cash balance above 60 days. Um and and basically our cash balance um in
054days just means that we've got enough money on hand to make it through 60 days worth of operations. Um future funding is still uncertain. Um you know uh when it comes to state foundation funding that is all done through a bianium budget. So every two years um we get to ride the roller coaster of are they going to pass it? Are they going to give us more or not? Um the last few years the answer's been no no more. Um so we've been kind of uh capped at a very small growth from uh state foundation. Um and we will definitely have to look at our emergency levy assuming we get assuming we don't strike oil or something here. um because it most likely um won't be enough to sustain us through um the hardships that
055are coming. Um our emergency levy comes to renewal um in 2028. So um that's not too far away. Um that's all for my doom and gloom. Um, so if anybody's got any questions, um, I can try to answer them as best I can right now with what we've done. Uh, I noticed when I was reading the longer version, and you kind of touched on it there, how does the the expiration of the emergency level obviously right now doesn't count against the 20 mil floor. >> It does as of right now. >> Right now, it didn't, but as of right now, it does. But when it expires, wouldn't we see won't we see some of that millage come back? >> You would um it we'll be back on the 20 mil floor. Um but then we'll
056also be capped at inflation. Um >> which we don't know. I mean we you know you're just your best guess is three years from now, you know, we have no inflation going to be. It may because the reappraisal is not going to be until 20 2027, >> right? >> The next reappraisal. So, we really don't know. >> I mean, it's possible that we would see all that money come back. >> Yes. >> Um and and that's the thing too, over the next year or so, depending on um depending on how things go, we may inch closer to the 20 mil floor. I don't think we'll hit it within the next two years. um with with these changes. Um and uh you know there there's also a big push a very large vocal group um in
057the state right now that are pushing to eliminate property taxes all together. um if they get enough signatures to get on the ballot this fall um every district's going to be in big trouble um because uh if they get the votes this is a midterm this is a gubernatorial year um if they get the votes there's no district will be able to operate taking away 45 to 50% of their funding by voting yes >> yeah the governor said yesterday that it would be uh 18% sales tax to make up the property tax revenue. What do we have to do? >> Any other questions? >> So, you're saying that if we get a credit on our taxes that if they've given you money, they're going to take it away too from us. If the schools have
058gotten the money from the increase and we get a credit, you guys are going to be getting it also. >> We won't what we're going to see is we're going to see a we're going to see the state pick up some of that. Um because they're going to go back to the guarantee numbers of 2024. Um which those guarantee numbers are tied to our real estate valuation from 2024. Um, so if that was a that was a 30% increase, we're still going to still going to be funded as if we got the 30% even though locally they're refunding it to um taxpayers. >> Okay. >> Um, but the calculation is not the same. So that's why it's not a dollar for dollar. You know, if if you get, you know, $400 back, that doesn't mean
059that we're going to get $400 too from the state. that means you're going to get 400 and we're going to get a percentage of that from the state. So, um it's not an exact science and and again that's a best guess because again there's no >> they haven't really said what their chip in's going to be though. Right. >> Right. Yeah. So, um yeah, everything's just kind of kind of up in the air and we're we're we're in a hurry up and wait holding pattern from the state. Um every district's in this position right now. Um, and it's unfortunate because we're trying to plan and we're trying to keep the district afloat. Um, trying to provide an education to the kids in the community and um, that makes it very difficult. So, >> it's kind
060of scary to think that they would put that on the ballot because the average person is going to go, I don't want tax. I don't want my property taxes. They're all going to vote for it, not realizing what it affects. >> Yes. >> And then, like Dane said, then our sales taxes are going to go through the roof. then you're going to have people complaining about that then then maybe they can eliminate that >> the appropriations are going to come from somewhere >> right be a different revenue source >> so if if um you know once we're done here tonight you guys think of anything you can always email me we can set up a time to talk >> I appreciate your explanation very good >> did you uh did we make this public to
061the year. >> Um it it it will be once we vote on it and um once you guys pass it, this all has to get uploaded to the state anyways to the data collector. Um and then it gets posted on OD's website. So the forecast itself and the note packet will be publicly available there as well. >> Your note packet, the explanation was excellent, Ryan. Thank you. It really >> I had a little bit of help with that. And I can't take all the credit for that. >> You did a really good job on it. >> But yes, >> something Ryan and I have discussed too is putting together a little more like aformational video that kind of simplifies this a little bit to to get out to our our community just to help them
062understand where we are with uh financially. you know, we are very fiscally responsible and we want people to understand what we're doing with, you know, the dollars that they entrust with us. >> All right, guys. Any other questions? >> Nope. >> Ryan, >> Mrs. Whittenholder, >> yes. >> Mr. Moon, >> yes. >> Mr. Wise, >> yes. >> Miss Martin, >> yes. >> Mrs. Bennett, >> yes. >> Motion passes. And if that is everything, we're going to adjourn at uh 6:58. Meeting adjourned.