Worthington City School District Superintendent Melissa Conrath wants to "connect with the community" in 2011 as the school district faces financial challenges caused by the uncertainty of state funding.

"The biggest and overarching challenge this year will be the same as many school districts: focusing on delivering a quality education in light of addressing our budget challenges," Conrath said.

Conrath said Gov. John Kasich has indicated there could be a 15 percent to 20 percent reduction in state funding for schools in the state's new budget.

"We'll also be losing our reimbursement for the business tangible tax as it is phased out, so we have to plan for that loss," she said.

Treasurer Jeff McCuen estimated the school district could lose up to $15 million a year when the reimbursement disappears.

"The target date for the phase-out of the reimbursement is 2014, but there has been discussion that it may be phased out earlier than that date," Conrath said.

The district's financial picture lightened somewhat with the middle school restructuring last year, which saved nearly $1.2 million, she said.

That savings could keep the district off the ballot until 2012, McCuen said last month.

Perry Middle School was consolidated into McCord Middle School as part of the restructuring, leaving only Phoenix Middle School in the Perry building.

"We are looking at all aspects of our budget and trying to find ways we can reduce expenses," Conrath said. "We'll look at how we can best use the Perry building to see if there is a way to use that facility to capture any inefficiencies and discover a greater economy of scale."

She said the state also will adopt new state standards this year, along with new academic assessments.

"We have to look at our curriculum and adopt the new standards and assessments while continuing to look at renewal efforts in our elementary buildings as well as the high schools and middle schools," Conrath said.

She said Worthington Kilbourne High School will begin to offer an International Baccalaureate program this year, and Thomas Worthington High School is exploring an expansion of its learning academies.

One of Conrath's major objectives for this year is "to help develop a shared understanding of the district challenges and initiatives as well as get feedback from the community as to what they see as important for the school district."

Conrath said she hopes to get that feedback through a series of "community conversations."

"We want to be invited into homes and schedule meetings at community centers and libraries where we can sit down with groups and talk about what we have on our plate for this year and beyond," she said. "We want to hear community opinion and reactions to school issues."

Conrath said she wants to share issues that are important to the school district.

"We'll talk about everything from the new standards to where we are on the bond issues to our efforts to reduce our expenditures," she said. "We'll talk more about the results of the performance audit and share where we are on those suggestions and give people the chance to ask questions."

The district has four community conversations scheduled so far: at 7 p.m. Jan. 25 at the Old Worthington Library, 820 High St.; at 2 p.m. Feb. 1 at the Old Worthington Library; at 7 p.m. Feb. 22 at the Northwest Public Library, 2280 Hard Road; and at 7 p.m. March 1 at Lazelle Woods Community Center, 8140 Sancus Blvd.

"All in all, it is an exciting time to be in education right now, but it will take tremendous effort and skill to maintain the quality education we have now while addressing the budget challenges we and many school districts face this year," Conrath said.

Residents can e-mail Conrath at mconrath@worthington.k12.oh.us. and access school information on the district website, worthington.k12.oh.us.