001Everybody ready? Good evening. Welcome to the April 21st, 2025 West Claremont School Board meeting. Mr. Romano, please take a role. Mr. Pat, present. Mr. Rudy, present. Mr. Tumbley, present. Miss San, present. Mrs. Spencer, present. All present. Thank you. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. 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. First up, it looks like we have the motion to adopt the agenda. Would someone like to make a motion? So move. Thank you, Mr. Rudy. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Chunley. Is there any discussion? Roll call, please. Mr. Rudy, yes. Mr. Chumley. Yes. Yes. Miss Sambort? Yes. Mrs. Spencer? Yes. Mr. Pat? Yes. Five. Yes. Next up
002is Dr. Folultz. Good evening. It's always exciting when I can come up here and recognize students and staff. So, this is one of the best parts of my job. Uh, I first want to start out by recognizing our school nurse administrator of the year, Heidi Sandalin. Heidi, please come [Applause] up. Mrs. Sailin, um, uh, Heidi was awarded the school nurse administrator of the year by the Ohio Association of School Nurses. This statewide award is given to a nurse that demonstrates leadership, dedication, and exceptional knowledge in the field of school healthcare. Hottie's impact has been felt within our schools and throughout the community partnerships she has developed. Her work keeps our students healthy so that they can achieve their high at their highest level. We are proud to recognize Heidi Sailun for this achievement. [Music] [Applause]
003[Music] So Becky or Becky's not here tonight, so you guys are taking pictures for her. Oh, that's there was a huge dinner in her honor up in Columbus. Chuck, you got to go to that, right? Yes. And so, uh, this is quite a huge honor to be named across the entire state. And I know this upcoming school year, you're going to be the president of your organization. president. Okay. So, Heidi is always like looking ahead. She is always on the cutting edge, keeping us very innovative around here and making sure that um our best practices are um maintained throughout the system. One of the projects she's working on right now, what's it called? The the one at um Merwin Project. Project Adam is all about the AED. And so she's going to bring that back
004to you guys probably later this summer. We'll we'll um celebrate that. But she doesn't hit walls. Like she hits walls, she knocks them down. Like that's Heidi Sandler. So all right. Thank you, Heidi. Next. Um would all the master teachers please come forward? West Claremont master teachers are educators who lead with heart, are amazing teammates, and always put students first. They take the time to understand what their students need, create warm classrooms, and keep finding new ways to grow in the teaching profession. Whether they're helping colleagues, trying something new, or stepping up to to lead, they are making a real difference in the schools every day. So, we are proud to recognize we have two new initial master teachers and two renewals. So, um I'm going to read I asked the principles to say a
005little blur about them so you've got a true feel of how they're respected and loved at their building. So, we're going to start with our um let's start with our initial. So, Tara Hector Tara teaches first grade at Holly Hill and has been the been in the district since 2016. Principal Josh Young writes, "Miss Hector is a shining example of a student- centered educator. She's incredibly focused and driven to ensure that every student is successful as a professional. She is intentional about her growth and she prioritizes efforts that will enhance our approach as a building and as a district. Next initial is Trina Napier. Trina teaches social studies at West Clear High School and has been in the district since 2002. Principal Greg Potabomb writes, "Trina has been a dedicated educator in our district since
006the 2002 2003 school year, is now completing her 23rd years of year of service. Throughout her career, she has consistently demonstrated excellence in instruction, leadership, and student engagement, making this recognition incredibly welld deserved. Trina currently serves as a social studies course group lead and assistant national honor society adviser and she will continue she will be stepping up into the lead adviser for the role of national honor society next school year. Her past leadership as social studies department supervisor reflects her long-standing commitment to curriculum collaboration and continuous improvement. We're incredibly proud of Trina for and grateful for the impact that she continues to make on our students and school community. Next we have um Jada Kennedy. This is a renewal. Jada. Jada has been as a literacy coach based at Willowville Elementary School. Has been in
007the district since 2013. Uh Principal Kevin Jones writes, "Jada Kennedy is the very definition of what it means to be a master teacher. She has high expectations for students and she believes that all students can learn at a high level. As a result, her students show tremendous growth year in and year out. Jada pairs this high expectation with maximizing instructional time as she teaches every second of the of the time she has with her students in front of her. She also challenges students by moving at a perky pace. Perky pace. I like that one. While using student data to design her daily lesson plans. In addition, the students that she teaches, she also coaches the adults in our building, helping them plan their unit instruction and uh collaborating with teams to support the implementation of
008our ELA curriculum. We are blessed to have Jada on our team. She goes above and beyond for all of our staff and students, and she holds herself to the highest standard when it comes to ensuring excellent results. And finally, we have Jeannie Hornberger, who is renewing her master teacher. Principal Curtis Mason writes, "Wes Claremont is lucky to have had Mrs. Hornberger teach excellence in our classroom for the past 12 years, the last six years at Clpike Elementary. The distinguished achievement reflects her dedication to educational excellence, professional growth, and her unwavering commitment to student success. As a master teacher, she continues to inspire both her students and colleagues, being innovative, bringing innovative practices, leadership, and a deep passion for teaching into the classroom every day. At this time, we give a hand. [Applause] Thank you so
009much. Congratulations. So, as these ladies assemble, I will um speak to the whole um what did you call it? Perky pace. Perky pace. I would say all four of these ladies have a perky pace. I'll let I'll let Larry take their picture while I gather my thoughts here. That looks pretty good. Everybody's certificates are up, right? Um I think for Mr. Jones because we've talked about this perky pace and I've talked about it with Jada before. It's it's the intentionality and I would say they all four uh reflect that intentionality in their work. Uh this master teacher effort is a huge effort and all four of them not only impact in their classroom and with their students. They impact the adults in the building that they work with and it goes beyond. They're involved in
010after school activities. Um they're very very involved women in each of their schools and that's what makes them special. So, I was wondering if any of you guys have any comments or something that you've learned from the process or anything that you would share since you don't always get a chance to be here with us. Anyway, I'm just I feel really blessed. I've been coming to West 1980 and so like looking at the overall big picture of all of those things, you know, being a graduate, I just know so much. really do that in our community. and you are. Yeah. Thank you. I agree. The reflective process is so important. I wish everyone would do even to some degree. It is a pretty large undertaking when you first do it. But it is so meaningful
011to just um really think about you do your everyday, you go and you do what's expected and you think you're doing great things, but then you can really sit down and talk to colleagues. And like she was saying, Tim was helpful because she said, "I don't know. and other people notice all the things that you do that you didn't even know you should put in there. So, I think it's it's really and gen. Oh, yeah. We also do this and we work here. So, it's just a really good process for reflecting on what you do and also what more you can do. Yes. It just creates more questions. All right. Yeah, when you really think about it. Well, thank you guys so much. We're very proud of you. I would like to say that the
012members of the master teacher committee are Kim Sears, our committee chair, Reena Ford, Barb Kenny, and Sue Litman Hall. And they they set they they help them. They walk them through it. They do all the grading on the rubric. So, they do a phenomenal job. All right. Now, we get to celebrate some kids. I love it. So, would the N would the um I'd like to invite our national DECA competitors and Mr. Brady up in front of the room. The West Claremont High School DECA students have earned the incredible opportunity to compete at the DECA National Competition in Orlando, Florida. Each of their events focuses on real world business topics ranging from entrepreneurship and financially and financial literacy to hospitality, marketing and enterprise management. Though hard through hard work, preparation and outstanding execution, these students
013rose to the top of their field and now represent the district on a national stage. Their success reflects not only their individual dedication but also the support and guidance of the deck adviser, Steven Brady. We're proud of their achievements and wish them their best on nationals. So, we're proud to recognize Narenda Deshmuk, Elijah Daniels, or sorry, Narinda Desmuk for qualifying for nationals and student-based enterprises. Elijah Daniels for qualifying for nationals in studentbased enterprise. Aiden Gardner for qualifying for nationals and principles of entrepreneurship. Isabelle Kaine for qualifying for nationals in hospitality and tourism. and Payton Corti uh qualifying for nationals in personal finance financial literacy. So, let's give him a [Applause] hand. Congratulations. Okay. Oh, exciting. Congratulations. We gave them 17 things to hold and then we want to take a picture. It's been fun to
014see these young men um over time. They've been um they're involved in so many things. They kind of run the school at this point, right? That's pretty much it. And uh here you guys are getting on a plane on Saturday for your competition. So we um will keep you on our thoughts and prayers and wish you the very best. I know you'll make West Claremont High School really proud. Where are you going? Orlando. Yeah, you guys approved it a little bit. Good choice. All right. Thank you. Okay. Yes. Okay. So, it looks like we're moving on to Taste of Merwin. Yeah. We'll do a video and then we'll do the break. Okay. Maybe. Maybe. Thank you, Chloe. We've been on a hot streak lately. We are trying to create a an atmosphere of budget friendly,
015healthy meals that the students can fix with their parents, doesn't take a long time, and that they'll they'll be able to everything. So, it was really kid-friendly and I love it. I think broken atmosphere of budget friendly, healthy meals that the students can fix with their parents, doesn't take a long time, and that they'll they'll be able to um enjoy with the entire family. The first ever Taste of Merwin brought families together at Merwin Elementary School in March. This was a time for families with need to cook a healthy and nutritious meal with the help of their little ones. The recipe, chicken enchiladas. And this is Mrs. Parker. One of her um recipes she actually uses at home. So, some of the ingredients we have a little Spanish rice, little green chilies, some chicken, tortillas,
016and who doesn't like lots of cheese? Mhm. and some corn, too, cuz you I mean, we got some healthy ingredients in here, too. So, nice little meal for the family. So, the idea is Miss Parker is going to show how she makes things, and they're going to do step by step along with Mrs. Parker, who's going to be here at the center showing them exactly what they need to do to put this meal together. And then they will also be taking a recipe home with them with directions to follow for later on and as well as ingredients and timing of how to cook it at home once they get home. Tonight, um, I'm going to be here cooking with Miss Parker and we will be making. [Music] Principal Aaron Parker led the demonstration with the
017help of two sue chefs who want to be real chefs when they grow up. Ellie Birfield, a fifth grader at Merwin, explains why she loves cooking. Mostly because like it brings families together and it makes like people happy. Lorie McMillan, an office assistant at Merwin, explains how she came up with the idea. Last year when we were um giving out food bags, we noticed that there were a lot of prepackaged things in the bags. Um, and that made me think that maybe it would be a good time to bring in some fresh food. Um, maybe something that the the kids could fix with their parents or fix while their parents were gone. Um, so that's kind of how it all got started. Kroger donated the food and supplies to make this a reality. Yes, we
018really appreciate Kroger for donating all of the the food and supplies that we needed to to make this a success. Corey Cyburn has children at Merwin and also works there. She says the experience was a big hit for her family. Yeah, I loved it. It was really easy. Um it was fun for my kids to be able to um get their hands dirty with shredding a chicken, which I've never actually let them do at home. So, it was nice to experience that. they absolutely can do that. Um, and then they were able to roll up everything. So, it was really kid-friendly and I love it. I think was Claremont strong means coming together and as one unit and no matter where you come from or where you go home to, but just coming together and
019being strong together and whatever you do together. Um, everybody's kind of like a part of the herd. They always work together. When things like arguments happen, everybody can it's fixed straight away and everybody just goes back to being buddy buddy. It's not ever that serious or something like that. We are West Claremont strong. What is your WC strong story? Thank you. Uh we're going to take about a 10 or 15 minute break so we can go out and have some juice. I believe there's some cookies out there and then we'll come back in about 10 or 15 minutes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. We are back from our brief uh a brief break. We'll jump into the public speaking. I don't believe that there are any cards back there for public speaking, but on this
020topic real quick, I I want to just kind of point out that we as a board, again, this is my first term running and I've learned a lot of things. And we as a board, one of the things I've learned during public speaking is that sometimes it can seem insincere. It can seem awkward. We have the community, which I truly appreciate whenever they come to any of our meetings and participate. we have been standing at the podium and we're listening to whether it's positive feedback or negative feedback and we're just kind of sitting here and listening and it just seems like we're not really engaged and that's not the case. We are listening. We take everything that um that we hear and each of us will do our own digesting and and so I just
021I want to continue to to um encourage the public to come speak at our meetings. You know, there are policies to that. there are some procedure matters that have to take place and like I said it can seem like it's insincere but but it is not the case and we do appreciate that as a board. Um moving on it looks like is our consent agenda. Start with Dr. Folultz. In front of you is the personnel agenda for April 21st, 2025. On the agenda today we have the resignations of three teachers, two pair professional aids and one custodian. This agenda also includes the proposed hiring of four teachers and two pair professional aids. The agenda, we have the proposed transfer of a part-time pair professional aid at Holly Hill into a full-time par profofessional aid position
022that's been vacated. The agenda also includes granting of extended days to the new school psychologist that's on our our uh sheet today for the 25 26th school year. The 15 extended days are typical for school psychologists each year. On the agenda, we have the proposed approval for supplemental contracts for multiple running club advisors and mock trial. Also including the agenda is the uh proposed approval for multiple unpaid leave of absences, substitute custodian, and multiple volunteers and student teachers. Finally, in the work beyond the contract section of the is the proposed approval for payments for specialized program development. This concludes the review of the personnel agenda submission for your consideration. Dr. Next is Mr. that part. I'm sad to see this. Have to give all credit to Angie because we're normally scrambling in June on this
023to see if we have gotten this done and so it's always a reminder in February, March, and we got it done in April. So, this is just for the board to approve our OSAA membership for next year. We have to do this. Board has to take action on this for us to be able to compete uh in the OSAA. So, this is uh something we do every year. Any questions? Thank you. Item 7.03 is actually a little bit misnamed. It's actually bringing the um letter of intent to purchase Chromebooks. The RFP was released back in February. The board approved the release. Uh we went through the whole process. We brought the uh the item to the board to um uh issue a letter of intent to purchase once we were able to evaluate Chromebook costs
024and all of that because of the impending tariffs and all of those things. And so that letter of intent to purchase has been issued and that is uh in your materials. Thank you. Item 7.04 is request for approval of minutes and those were for the regular meeting that was held on April 7th. Item 7.05 is a request for approval of donations and I'll read those briefly. uh with them built at Tobasco PTO donated Jersey Mike's dinner in the cookie tray uh for the staff during the conference night. There was an anonymous donation of $400 to West Claremont High School athletic department. RJ Cinema donated 600 small popcorn bags and 600 movie tickets to Wamsville Tobasco Elementary for the Incredible Kids Day event. Wamsville PTO donated mascots to Wamsville Tabasco Elementary for the Incredible Kids Day
025event. R.J. Cinema donated six bags of popcorn to Wthamsville Tobasco Elementary for attending attendance awards. Mike and Cheryl Zallet donated 50 boxes of Cheerios to Somersside Elementary Blessing Box. Peterman donated food for the district partners in education event. Big Time Balloons donated balloons for the district partners and education event. SHP donated food and beverages for the district partners and education event. Phil Dodge donated $1,000 to the district. The Cincinnati Reds donated 50 sticker sheets and 120 trading cards to Wamsville Tabasco Elementary. And Kroger donated grocery items to Merwin Elementary for the A Taste of Merring event, the video that we just just previewed. Item 7.06 uh is a motion to approve the authorization for the superintendent treasur to negotiate and execute contracts as presented. Um the technology contract for uh the -ate are requested for
026that approval and there are several that are listed in the attachment. Item 7.07 07 is request for approval of purpose and budget statement for the current year the 2425 uh school year. Those are for um those are for the the uh the school student activity funds. And item 7.08 is a supplementing and amending the annual appropriations. Um there were four different federal programs that uh we received the revised allocation. They were for the limited English proficiency, the title one, title four, excuse me, title four, and then title 2A. Uh that amendment is in the amount of $26,849. And then item 7.09 09 is a request for the approval of financial statements for the month ending March 31st, 2025 as presented. So the consent agenda is item 7.01 through 7.09 um as requested. Thank you, Mr.
027Romano. You heard the recommendation. Would someone like to make a motion? So moved. Thank you, Mr. Rudy. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Chumley. Is there any discussion? Roll call, please. Mr. Rudy, yes. Mr. Chumley, yes. Miss Samborn, yes. Mrs. Spencer, yes. Mr. Patton, yes. Five, yes. Thank you. Item 8.01 is the resolution issuing a level four decision. So, I recommend that the board approve the resol resolution issuing level four decision on complaint as presented. Thank you. You've heard the recommendation. Would someone like to make a motion? Thank you, Mr. Chumley. Is there a second? Mr. Rudy, thank you. Is there any discussion? Roll call, please. Mr. Chumley, yes. Mr. Rudy, yes. Miss Samborn, yes. Mrs. Spencer, yes. Mr. Pat, yes. Five, yes. Item 8.02 O2 is the superintendent recommends the board approve
028the resolution ratifying my certification of compliance with the federal anti-discrimination laws as presented. Thank you. You've heard the recommendation. Would someone like to make a motion? So moved. Thank you, Mr. Rudy. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Miss Samborn. Is there any discussion? Roll call, please. Mr. Rudy, yes. Miss Samour, yes. Mrs. Spencer, yes. Mr. Patton, yes. Mr. Chumley, yes. Five. Yes. And we've been putting uh 8.03. It's the statement of facts. We've been including that in every board meeting. Just to as a reminder that we do have an issue on the ballot May 6th. This is for a new preK4 elementary school that which would reduce our elementarymentaries from 7 to 6, become more efficient and to have some operational savings down the road. We have the 58 middle school and that has
029was basically came to be for two reasons. Number one, we have overcrowding already in the elementary school and so moving the fifth grade out would help alleviate that. Number two, we have the oldest um or sorry, not the oldest, we have the largest um middle school in the state of Ohio and it has the earliest start time. Um the conditions there in that environment are not um what I would say are optimal for middle school students. And so the 58 building would allow us to create those conditions. And when Dan and I have been out meeting with PTO meetings over the last couple weeks, how I usually start is to think about who are we actually talking about? Who's going to be impacted most by these facilities? And uh the answer is if you're in
030kindergarten, you're going to be the first fifth grader in this new building. You know, if you're in first grader, first sixth grader in this building and and so on. And so I I think as families, especially if you're in a new building where or you've been in a renovated building like Kluff, you might not be thinking down the road if you're a mom of an early early learner. And so we just want to bring it to everyone's attention that if if we're not able to take advantage of the Ohio Facilities Commission 20% on the ballot in May 6th, the timeline for when that building may happen, if ever, is really up in question because we will have to turn our attention to operational focus. Um, we'll need to make sure that we have the funds
031available to keep the lights on, to take care of the maintenance of these buildings that include roofs, asphalt, windows, heating and air conditioning, all all the pieces. And that will become a main priority of our budget. Whereas now, our main priority of our budget is the classroom. And we would have to reverse that a bit based on um the success or failure of this levy. So, we've had some great conversations. We had huge turnouts. Um I say you know 25 or more people is a huge turnout for us at the PTO's and the booster club meetings. people were very engaged, very interested, and really just not sure if people can afford this at this time. Like that that really continues to be a conversation. And whenever I met with that, obviously, we we show empathy
032for the challenging times that that it is right now. And yet, our responsibility is to address the growing population and to plan for the future of West Claremont. And so, that's what we're what's that's what's it's what we're trying to do. and people really do seem to be uh very supportive over the over the overall plan. So, are you guys hearing anything more out there or things that you u myths that you think we need to bust? Uh I'll think I'll add one that has come up. People say, "What did you do with all that money from the evaluation?" Here you are. We just had a raise in valuation of property taxes and where did all that money go? Well, Dan has explained it um multiple times, but just to reinforce that money has been
033invested back into the school so that we've not come out to voters. We were supposed to come out, our prediction was 2024. We've been able to extend that to at least in until 2026. We will keep working on extending that if if it's possible. It's getting more and more challenging all the time because of all the changes we keep hearing from the legislators, but um that's that's what we would um aim to do. So, are you guys hearing anything else? There is a misconception that the income tax proposed is 25%. Oh, instead of 0.25. Yes, I've been correcting that and so have some other Wow, that's that would take my breath away. Yes. And that 0.25 that's another point that Dan and I end up talking about. It is a builtin long-term plan. Once the
034facilities are up and running, that 0.25 will continue to grow over time and we'll be able to invest that back. the way the ballot language reads, that can't be for salaries and benefits and things for classrooms. This is more um the building infrastructure and keeping up with the maintenance. So, it truly is a long-term plan. Uh you know, I think about those young gentlemen that we just recognized with DECA. I mean, this is going to impact their children. I mean, this is a long-term um plan for the district. Anybody else have anything that they're hearing or myths that we need to bust? I I believe there's also a misconception that we want shiny new buildings to look good. Yeah. And I doing my best to explain that. Yeah. Right now we have an elementary um
035Holly Hill that has 250 students in it. We have Amelia that has 800. So in terms of maximizing your resources, I think if we were starting over West Claremont today, we would not design for a really small and a really big. And when we surveyed families and community, we found that 600 was kind of the number that people thought that's a good size for an elementary. And so with some rethinking of how the district is organized, that's how we came to this the six schools that would mostly they would have about 600 students in them. We are seeing um that we're crowded now. We're and and the projections do tell us 1300 more students by 2030. So I it is not just about we want some new furniture and we want some new things. It's
036about um ex ensuring that every student has the right kind of learning environment and the right kind of experience because there are differences. I mean we we work very hard to keep everything as equitable as possible in the classroom uh across the school district but there are some environmental challenges when you have buildings that were not built for this era. Anything else you would add at this time? Not really. We'll talk about a little bit about advocacy in a little bit, but I know that Mr. Getart is scheduling well, we had on the books a key communicators meeting. So, we're trying to get as many people possible at the key communicators so that our um parents who lead organizations are the most informed and can help share those conversations. If you go to our website,
037it is uh the statement of facts is available on on bond information and that's also where you would find one pagers. We've handed out a lot of them over the course of the last couple weeks and people do find them helpful to to try to explain um to their family, to their neighbors, and and to to the staff what the what the facts are. Miss Adam, speaking of that, will you reiterate that again? because I do see on Facebook in different areas where people aren't they don't know where to get this information and then others are chiming in and saying it's on our Facebook page like there's there's yes so if you go to our main website you go uh click on the banner at the top it says bond information it'll take you to
038a page that is chalk full of information there's videos where Dan describes they're very short little videos that describe our financing there are FAQs that we've gathered over time to help um answer any questions people have And then we've created some documents that are we call them our one-pagers that say a lot of information in a short in a in a small space. So that's on the statement of facts section. So it's all there and whenever we get questions which we aren't getting tons of questions so it doesn't it doesn't change all the time. Every now and there might be a tweak every now and then but um if if there are more myths out there that we need to bust um we can we can do that. We can create new things if needed.
039I think the only thing I would add to that last part is um if that seems intimidating to go to the website and try and search for the you know the answer to the question that you have if it seems intimidating to fill in the question and submit it to us. Uh there is a very significant willingness on our part that if you want to call and talk to us, we'll call and talk and answer your question to you. I think that was almost a little bit evident tonight. um about our willingness to answer any question that we can and if we can't answer it right then we'll go find answers for you and we're happy to be invited places if people have small groups they want us to meet with we're happy to do
040that too we have time on our schedule for that I appreciate that from you guys sure and that's all for my comments tonight unless you guys have questions for me about anything well actually I misspoke I I gave you a folder that it's it's a little manila packet inside of it. You don't have to get into it now, but there are WC Strong pens that have a little note card with it. So, if you guys want to write some notes to staff and recognize them, we've got just so many WC strong cards um to give and thought we'd give you guys a chance to recognize some people on your own. So, just things that if you fill it out and bring it back to me, I'll make sure they get distributed. Thank you. Thanks, Mr.
041Um item 9.01 01 is request for um the approval of a tax incentive agreement between West Claremont local school district and Union Township for the Ivy Cove or for the Cove at Ivy Point. Um I I wish I would would uh have the ability to put it up, but if you're able to look through the documentation there, um to me from from my perspective and opinion, this is is really a a neat thing to do and kudos to the economic development people with the township. If you look at that parcel, it is kind of a triangular shaped piece of ground. It's not very large. um almost looks like a green space or or common space between a couple of the facilities around the um roundabout there. And it doesn't look like it's very buildable, but
042compliments to the the people who had the vision of putting something on that piece of property, taking land that is basically nonrevenue producing and make it revenue generating for the district um for the school district. So, if you recall, uh, Union Township on their TIFF agreements, uh, have a whole harmless agreement with the school district. And what that means is is where through the tiff agreement that that the improvements on that property are taxexempt for 30 years. Okay? But through a payment in lie of taxes that goes to the township through the county to the township the township makes us whole on taxes that we' have otherwise otherwise would have received. Okay. So it is a very positive thing for the school district as that land gets developed. It becomes revenue producing for the school
043district um as if the tiff weren't there. Okay. So we appreciate that continued partnership. We appreciate the fact that they're finding parcels of land that, you know, when when you when you look at it, it doesn't look like it would be buildable. And here, they're going to be able to put something on it that will produce revenue uh to the school district. So, and and again, with with all of these, we do have things reviewed by our council to make sure everything is in order. This is I I've reviewed it. It is similar to the the prior um tax increment financings that are in place with the township. And so um it's the recommendation that the board approved the tax incentive agreement or the tiff agreement between the West Carman local school district and Union
044Township for the Cove at Ivy Point. Thank you, Mr. Romano. You've heard the recommendation. Would someone like to make a motion? Thank you, Mr. Rudy. Is there a second? Second. Was that Miss Thank Spencer? Thank you. Is there any discussion? Mr. Rudy? Yes. Mr. Spencer? Yes. Mr. Patton? Yes. Mr. Chumley? Yes. Miss Sambort? Yes. Five. Yes. Thank you. Um, and then for the comments, um, you know, uh, I'm going to talk a little bit about the advocacy and kind of where we're at. And so, we're at a transition point from the governor to the the House. And now moving to the Senate for the state budget. But but there's two things really at play. There is the state budget and there is a host of legislation on property taxes that impact school districts. And so
045I just want to talk a little a little bit about those and maybe as as a backdrop just give some information. So again, this comes from Howard Fleeter, um, who is with the Ohio Economic Policy Institute. Um, and, um, I know this was some information when, um, we went down to Columbus. If we go back to 1975 and we look at the two classes of property that are taxed, class one is the residential and agricultural property. Class two is the commercial industrial. Back in 1975, the class one percentage, so out of 100% of both of those properties together, the residential agriculture made up 46%, okay, the share of that tax base, the class 2 made up 54%. In 2023, that changed to 75% residential and agricultural, 25% commercial industrial. So what does that mean? It
046means there was a tax shift right where where the where the growing part of that tax base is on residents and agricultural. Okay. Point one with it today. What else has been happening? And there's a lot of criticism to school districts that are at the 20 mil floor which West Claremont is one of those. And we've been at that 20 mil floor for some time. And we have to go back to understand why was that 20 mil floor put in the first place. So what the 20 mil floor is when um House Bill 920 was put in place that said hey because property values are growing so fast back in the mid early to mid70s. Okay. They wanted to have some an equalization formula that said, "Hey, you you can't let these taxes, quote unquote,
047back then, same things are being said today. Drive grandma out of her home or drive people that are on a fixed income uh to a point where they cannot afford their home." So that House Bill 920 was put in place, equalized taxes and and really when levies are voted, it really resulted in voting to a dollar amount versus a rate that kept increasing the dollar amount. One year later, okay, the legislation put in place kind of a stop gap there. It was for two reasons and said, "Hey, for school districts, you have there's a 20 mil floor. can't uh taxpayers should pay homeowners property owners okay commercial industrial shouldn't pay less than 2% or 20 mills on their property values. Two reasons why is one it was about survival as property values went up okay
048uh and things were increasing it really helped those school districts um gain revenue that otherwise they couldn't gain. The second reason is when you looked at the state formula at that time, the state formula said, "Hey, if you want money from the state, you should at least assess 20 mills, okay, for that local school district." So, in order to get the money from the state, you had to assess the 20 mills to get it 2% of the property values. That's why it was put in place. I can't I we would be here way too long and I'd have to hear it tomorrow morning from Randy. Okay, about all the changes that took place from 1976 to today regarding property taxes. It is, and the superintendent mentioned it earlier, it is a very complex system. What
049we don't need is more complexity to property taxes with not just with the the bianium bill or the bianium budget that's in place that now wants to do some restrictions on cash balances and and the answer to if your cash balance gets too high gives the authority to the county auditor not may but will reduce your property taxes. Okay. So now all of a sudden the ability for a school district to look forward to plan forward like we have okay to extend levies okay or extending extend coming back to voters okay will get restricted okay if we're limited on what cash balance we can carry over which the intent of cash balances um to do 90 days of cash balance on hand was so that we could make payroll so that we could do some
050long-term planning Um, and that was really a minimum. The 90 days was a minimum to go to. It wasn't a maximum. And I think it I don't know where it came from, but I think it was misread that that was a maximum and not a minimum. But in effect, again, just like the other 14 bills, it has the impact of being very negative to any school district within Ohio, specifically our school district alone. districts at the 20 mil floor in 2003. Um there were for class one property and this is going up and down 300 districts at the 20 mil floor. In uh 12 there were 122 in 2023 going back. So that's the tax year there were of the 600 nine 610 school districts in the state, 420 of them were at the 20
051mil floor for class one or class two properties. Okay. So over twothirds of the school districts are now at that 20 mil floor with that and with the and I think there's another round with the trienal and sexil valuations coming for the 25 and the 26 that that may increase that as we go forward. Okay. So certainly there there is this shift that is going on um to local property taxes. For the last five years, every time I gave the five-year forecast update, we put that chart up that showed we were I think when I first came here it was, you know, in the 50s. So 5545 and then it went to 58 you know 42 and then it went to 6040 and then it's you know it's approaching 6535 on local share versus state
052shares. Okay. Why is that? Well it's not only because of the way the property taxes are structured but it's also because we are on the state funding. We are at a guaranteed level which right now our guarantee goes back to at least 2019 where the state is saying that hey because of your local wealth. Okay, we're going to freeze you at what we gave you total dollar amount 2019. So it's so not only is it a lower amount 30% 35% it's at fiscal year 2019. Correct. All right. So we're going back to there with it which means and I think we've said this and tried to convey it that that in an inflationary economy which we are okay except for maybe very you know isolated points in time okay that even inflationary increases have to
053be borne 100% by what our other revenue local property taxes to do that okay so we we understand the pressure that's being put on local property taxes. But this is is this is the I guess a lack of a better phrase, the the rules of the game of how schools are funded in this state. Does not mean we agree with them. We certainly uh um grasp for every dollar we can get. Um but one of the things that we're fighting for and we're advocating for and it's really in two areas on the on the state bianium process for for state funding. I think there's three things. One is we need the guarantee kept in place. U the original governor's bill looked at reducing the guarantee so that we would lose money. Okay. Adding more pressure
054locally. that um the House bill came back and gave us that guarantee. In fact, gave us that guarantee plus a little bit more money, very a little bit more. But I mean, that was something that we were hoping for. So, as this moves to the Senate, okay, and I think sometimes some of the associations and others have forgot that the Senate still has the prerogative to to do some things in that beny bill. One of the things that we want to rest, one of one of the things that we want to advocate for is leave the guarantee as is and don't reduce those back down. The second thing that we look at is there is that provision on the cash balances that currently from the house says that if your cash balance is 30% more
055than the prior year's expenditures which we may be close this year. Okay. Then the county auditor has again not may but will reduce the taxes. Okay. That's a loss of revenue for us. Okay. it presents a situation where if it's over 30% this year, there's a loss of revenue the next year, those tax rates will go right back up, okay, to do that. So there there's there would be a lot of confusion, you know, in the community as to what is really going on. So all of a sudden they reduce it one year, but then the next year taxes go up. In fact, without without a vote or anything. Third, okay, is the fair school funding formula. and and and and I I say third because I always put up on top as keep us
056whole in the state funding, but third is there is a fair school funding formula that for the whole of Ohio and for all school districts would be better if that was fully funded or if the inputs were updated. Okay, there there's a report that and I will send this information to you, but there's a report that goes back and looks at um different funding of the state. And I'll I'll read it this way. In FY99, the state's share percentage, this is statewide, the state's share of of funding was 45.7%. Since 1999, that percentage has declined and is now um in FY 25 only 38%. And if the formula is not funded and continues as is with the inputs going back to FY22, by FY27, so two years up the road, two more years, it'll go
057down to 32% funding. So there's the continual decline if there's some if those inputs aren't adjusted. if the funding formula is not fully funded. Okay. Again, more added pressure locally that goes on. So, you know, part in that and and this is where I think where our advocacy is. We're not just advocating for the school district. We're advocating for the people in this community, okay? Where that pressure from quote unquote the rules of the game that that you know we play financially are really putting more and more pressure on them. Do we like it? No. Do we advocate for change of that? Yes. On the um I think what happens locally is that people come against school districts by voting no or or whatever, speaking at board meetings, whatever. But the frustration doesn't make it
058to the state. Yeah. That advocacy is missing. We're the middleman. Yeah. And so we're a we're a tangible place. People can come and be upset. And I mean the the funding from the state just keeps going less and less and less and less and it's not we're we're not changing. Yeah. We're we're still surviving. We're still trying to figure out how to survive and they're putting it here. And I think that there has to be stronger voice from communities speaking at the state level to say this is not okay to put the burden on our backs. They yell at us and say that but we don't control the rules of the game. The other two points I want to make especially with the uh the provision on the 30% if the cash balance exceeds 30%
059of your expenses within the last two weeks we had two things uh you know come to our attention or brought to us the first one was um and these things happen there's it's not you know isolated situation um on our tax settlement we were advanced $2.2 2 million more in our February settlement than was expected and anticipated. That was really kind of an over advanced money that was really due us coming in August. Well, the question is, well, do we pay that back to the county? Do we keep it, invest it for six more months, which would be the prudent thing to do, right? To, you know, if it's there to do that. But that $2.2 million is in our cash balance. raises us up close to or maybe exceeds the 30% threshold. We were
060notified um last week that uh Duke Energy uh contested their valuation and with that contesting which which it's not finalized yet but I but it's going in that direction that our school district um if the if the re if and when the reappraisal goes down or that valuation goes down then we were quote unquote overpaid $2.4 4 million which again is in that cash balance to go forward. That is money that we'd have to pay back somewhere in the future. So I guess my point with this is with that provision. Okay, it's making things more making things that that happen. They do happen re you know re valuations get contested. We even contest the valuations right with some property owners. Well, sometimes property owners do the same thing and contest that it's too high. Those
061things go on. Okay. Adding a provision of the 30% further complicates something that uh superintendents, boards of education, school district treasurers try to plan forward for the future and all of a sudden that that's creating a limitation on it. I I even forgot the superintendent reminded me in the finance committee meeting. We do a five-year forecast twice a year and all of a sudden there the part of the bill is to reduce it from five years down to three. They can reduce it down from five to three. I'm still going to do a fiveyear because that's the prudent outlook that we want to have all if you go down to three are we looking at levy cycles every three years. Part of the reason why it was five years was to look at on average
062levy cycles and where districts do need money to do it. So, every school district has their own story and we've been trying and I think we've been pretty consistent, you know, for the last uh five years of telling our story and where we're at and the pressures that we are under um to do that. So, as the superintendent says, we will continue to advocate. We're um yeah, we're trying to get a meeting. We have a we're trying to get a face tof face with Senator Johnson and at least a a Zoom um we were asking for two different meetings over the next couple weeks. He's just extremely busy as as everything's in the Senate's lap right now. So, we understand that. Yeah. And I and I appreciate the fact that when we we the four
063of us had met with um Representative Bird and Representative Schmidt that you know an outcome of that is that bill did you know uh make us whole at least on the state. Okay. We'll still always advocate for more, but you know, appreciate, you know, them listening and responding, you know, to what what we needed, what the school district needed um on that case. So, it it is complex. Um hopefully on the website, we're telling the right story to people. We're telling us what it is, okay, to do it. Um but it is a it is complicated and property taxes in this state are very complicated. Um and so we need to make them simpler and not add more layers to make it more complex to do it. Um there is a presentation that in in
064the finance committee agenda there was um a PowerPoint presentation that's available to the board that identifies the I think it's 12 of the 14 bills that are addressing property taxes. Um they're not acted on yet. They're all still pending. You know, some of them like one of them really is looking at targeted assistance and targeted relief. You know that we certainly advocate for that. We, you know, we know that there are some conditions that exist where because the valuation has gone up so high and people may be on a fixed income that is difficult, you know, to maintain those payments and do that. So, we certainly advocate that that a bill such as that um can get some attention and go through. I guess if I was uh nervous, you know, and what maybe keeps
065me up at night is two, three, four of the bills go through and and all of a sudden layering and layering of of property tax relief comes upon us that uh that just has a doubling and tripling effect negatively to the school district. So, um, didn't probably make things as clear as I wanted, but the point of it is is we between now and the end of June, which decisions have to be made, we're going to keep, you know, our foot on the pedal and and keep talking to those that have the ability to make some decisions on us on our behalf. Do that. And if you have any questions on that material, trust me, it's um it's complicated to the point that when you ask me a question, I may not have the absolute
066answer right then and there, but we'll get it. Thank you, Mr. Romano. Looks like we're moving on to board comments. Miss Spencer, I always get to be the first one. Thank you. I'm so lucky. Um well, on Dan, thank you for making that clear. much clearer than it was when I first got the email about Duke wanting money back. But um we did have a committee meeting, a financial committee meeting before this meeting and I did learn that um even though our healthc care costs are continuing to rise every year, everybody's is but our district employees are curbing that somewhat by participating in the wellness challenges that we're doing, which is really great and beneficial to everyone for them individually and for our district as well. So I I thought that was very encouraging, too.
067And um and Dan did talk a lot about the um the overpayment that the uh county gave us and what how we're going to manage that and then about Duke's reassessment of of what a property I guess is what it is, right? It's a reassessment of the property and the utilities, right? So, but I appreciate you break you breaking it down to the three I've got three uh points that we should can try to get our legislatives and letter write letters to your congress people and legislators about the we need to keep the guarantee and about the too much cash balance which would make it harder for schools to plan ahead really is what it sounds like to me and that the fair school funding needs to be updated instead of leaning back to the
068old obviously inflation and it just needs to be stayed updated. So, I appreciate you breaking that down into three parts for me and that helps me understand it a little bit better. But, and um I do truly enjoy doing this. I know it's um my it's can be daunting, but I do enjoy doing this and I and I'm in it for the children to make their lives a little bit better and a little bit easier for them. So, we do what we do for the kids. So, we'll just keep on trucking. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Miss Amborg. Um, it's been brought to my attention about the summer projects that we had two weeks ago, and a couple of my constituents have asked me to ask the administration to either put a request for proposal
069on these projects or a quote on these projects. It just doesn't look good when you have a a list of projects you want to do, but there's no money attached to see of what the cost is going to be for these projects and they just don't they don't like that. And so I'm asking you to look into this. I I'm not sure what they're looking for. I think they're just wanting to know the cost of each one of these projects. Make sure we're doing or we're following processes and procedures that are in place. Now, um number two and three. This the concerns that you just talked about with the Claremont County auditors. I think the the real best thing for you to do is to mail both the county auditor her check back or write
070a check back to them and then to Duke Energy to write a check back to them. That is the honest thing that I think that we should do. We shouldn't keep money that is not due to us right at this moment. And I think that the taxpayers will be more willing maybe to um mark the bond for the bond this year knowing that we've sent that money back and not kept it. We've we've done what what it we've been transparent because you talk about transparency all the time. This is a part of being transparent to the West Claremont community. Okay. And specifically the taxpayers. So, I know it's not my comment just yet, but a couple of things as far as the auditor gave us options. So, we're being transparent. We have options that we
071can do. So, we can look at those options. If I understood in the financial committee meeting correctly, Duke is doing their petitioning, whatever they're going to petition, but that doesn't mean we we haven't been found at fault yet. So, we haven't Correct. So for us to write a check, we wouldn't know what even dollar amount to write a check because Duke is just starting the process. So I don't want to put the wagon before the horse by writing these checks if I'm correct. Yeah. So there's two things. There's there's one is the over advance. So they basically advanced us $2.1 million of money that's due in August. Yeah. They gave that in the February settlement. That's one. The second one is on the Duke um energy issue where it's it's not final yet, but they
072went back three years on the valuation, contested it, and for our district to the tune of about $2.4 million. And if that does happen, my understanding is that would be paid not all at one time, but deducted over five years um into the future. So, in other words, it didn't happen in one year. Okay. So, it doesn't have to be paid back in. Yeah. And these things, why would you wait that long? Why wouldn't you just be more transparent and just get it off your plate and take care of it? So, the def the definition of transparent is that we're saying what is real, what is true. So, the the do work is it's still it's not final. We're just letting you know. And the re reality is it's a collaboration between Duke, the district,
073and the auditor's office. It's not like us just making decisions. Right. That's correct. So we we will we work together on this. It's it's it's not like a choice we're making and not being transparent. We're being very transparent about what's to not be transparent. Wouldn't even brought either one of those up. I'm sure there are other school districts that have not even voiced that the auditor gave it. They moved on down the road and they went down it. And different districts can do business however they want. Not saying they're right or wrong. That's just what works best for them. And so we will look at what works best for us in our district. and and you know and kind of go from there. We I think one of the things we can do and I
074and may and maybe this this is a happy medium in there to do it is we can set those funds aside. Okay. Until the county auditor because what the county auditor is going to do is deduct it from our advances if it if this comes through. Okay. So just both both of those occurrences. So like the first one where they gave us the August money now, right? It was clearly in the letter to us that hey, hold on to that money. They'll just deduct it out of the Augusta settlement. It's still due us. It just wasn't due to us for six months. I'm not saying it's not due us. I'm just saying, you know, let's give it back to them now. Give it back to them now and then get it when we're supposed to
075get it in August. Right. And one of the things I can do, which may be the happy medium, is I can show that as an obligation and reserve it. Okay? And do exactly what they said. I can reserve that and and quite frankly we get the interest earnings off of it. Okay. And then when it comes due, you know, have have that readily available so I can set that aside and do that. Okay. It's probably a good medium to do that. In other words, not just sitting in the cash balance, but it's designated for that purpose. Can do when the when the Duke thing comes through, I think two things. one fully understanding how the county and Duke are going to handle getting that payment back and based on those terms do a very similar
076thing where once that decision is made or judgment made that hey that is due back and but the payment is terms are over in five years do the same thing deduct that out of our cash balance put it in a reserve okay to set it aside so that we're not spending it right okay don't want to spend it not have it available you know two or three up the road. Nor do I want to mislead the community that we have $2.4 million more in the balance that we don't have. We're 4.1 or two down. Yeah. So, so go ahead and reserve that out of that out of the cash balance and make it very clear, okay, that that's money that's not due us until six months up the road or three or four months up
077the road, whatever it is, or money that is due somebody else. So, I I don't disagree with with being transparent with that. and maybe um putting that on the books that way and fully disclosing it that way that hey that's pending it, you know, may be the best for everybody. Okay. But yeah, hopefully that helps and this won't be the last time we discuss this. I know because I'm just trying to make sure that I understand because you know I I just I just want to be transparent with everybody. I agree. Yeah, I agree with that. That's that's good. Mr. I apologize. No. Um I'll I'll keep a lighter. I'm I I appreciate each and every one of you guys. I'm I'm glad that I'm not individually making decisions here. I'm glad we're all together
078to be able to discuss these things. Um and I'm glad we have a great team to be able to work through situations like this and make the best decision. and I feel like we do most most than not is make uh the best decision for us and the best decision for our community and the best decision for our students. So, I appreciate each and every one of you. Um I hope everyone had a happy Easter. Um I really like the uh taste of Merwin. Um I remember when I was in school, my favorite my favorite class was home. So I love cooking today and I probably attribute that to home when I was in school. So I'm glad these students are getting opportunity to kind of learn that as well. So I appreciate what you
079guys have learned over there. Um yeah, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mr. Rudy. I'll just say I enjoyed all the celebration of students and staff today. Wonderful. Always fun. Um I I will finish. Um and again, Miss Spencer kind of highlighted on some of the things that I was in the financial committee meeting with her. So she kind of highlighted on um most of what we discussed uh and Dan highlighted on the other piece. I will say though that uh we did get certification of excellence in financial reporting which was presented to us by it's everything's acronyms here but it's ASBO international. So um that that's uh speaks some volumes to us. And again I guess I kind of want to echo with Mr. Chumley as well as far as we as a board we
080don't need to bear the burden of individual it's it's us as the five sitting up here making some very tough decisions and um and there have been tough decisions that we've had to make and so it's it's just important that we continue to work as a team and and that's all of us. Uh the other thing I always tend to forget is our next board meeting is May 7th 2025. It's no 5th. It's the Monday before the election, which is May 6th. I'm so Let me see here. Oh my god. I I I have it right and I wrote it wrong. That's right. It's It's because this is the team. This is the team that I was talking about. These are just dates we've talked about a lot. It's the only reason I'm so confident.
081Well, that's I saw the hand go up, so I apologize. Let me let me correct that. Thank you, team. Um, our ne our next board meeting is May 5th, 2025 at 7 PM here at the Civic Center. Again, May 5th, just for no confusion. Thank you, team. Um, I do not believe that we have any reason to go into executive session. So, with that being said, would someone like to make a motion to adjurnn? Mr. Rudy. Second, Mr. Chumley. No discussion, I'm assuming. Thank you. Roll call, please. Mr. Rudy. Yes, Mr. Chumley. Yes, Miss Samour. Yes, Mrs. Spencer. Yes, Mr. Pat. Yes, five. Yes. Thank you for that.