Officials optimistic about district's financial situation

 

The Worthington City School District's finances for the next fiscal year will be better than projected, district officials say.

"The fiscal year ended with cash balances $2.3 million above estimates," said Treasurer Jeff McCuen on Tuesday, Oct. 9. "The transitional guarantee left in place also provides the district with $3.6 million more than was projected for fiscal year 2008."

The school board met Monday, Oct. 8, at the Worthington Education Center.

McCuen told board members he would have a new five-year financial forecast available for approval at the next board meeting, set for 7:30 p.m. Oct. 22.

The new forecast must be approved by board members and submitted to the Franklin County auditor by Oct. 31.

"We'll be meeting with the treasurer's advisory committee this week to look over the new forecast, to receive their input and see if we need to make any changes," McCuen said.

The new state budget bill, House Bill 119, left important guarantees in place for school districts, McCuen said.

"We're definitely looking at much better numbers due to the changes in House Bill 119," he said. "It left the transitional aid guarantee in place, so that the district will receive no less in state aid than it did last year."

McCuen said fiscal year 2007 ended June 30. The district currently is in fiscal year 2008.

New newsletter

A new item in the district budget this year will include the cost of a community newsletter at $13,000 per school year. A stack of the newsletters was available to the public at this week's board meeting.

Director of Communications Vicki Gnezda said the first newsletter was printed and distributed at the end of September.

"The cost is for an entire package ... and the newsletter will be distributed three times a year, in September, January and May," Gnezda said. "The newsletter is another piece of our communication with residents, to make sure they are getting the information they desire from the school district. On a recent survey, the community asked that we communicate on a more regular basis, and it is the intent of our superintendent (Melissa Conrath) that we do that."

Legislative changes

Also at this week's meeting, board members heard Ohio School Boards Association Legislative Specialist Jennifer Economus outline changes to the association's legislative platform.

Economus told board members she is a Worthington resident, with a 3-year-old daughter who will attend Bluffsview Elementary School.

"I am a proud Worthington resident, and I'm happy to be presenting these legislative changes to my own district," she said. "The purpose of the platform is to state our position on various issues so that we can best serve school districts in Ohio."

Some of the changes and additions to the platform included the association supporting full state funding for school districts that choose to provide pre-kindergarten programs and opposing the transfer of funds from a public school to a community school without complying with the legal requirements for enrollment or withdrawal.

Another addition to the platform was the association's support of expanding health-care pooling, provided school districts maintain local decision-making authority and employees maintain quality benefit levels, if significant cost savings are created by the pooling.

Public records

Board members also officially approved Gnezda's training in House Bill 9, the new public records law, which went into effect Sept. 29.

The new law requires public records to be organized and maintained in a way that makes them available for public viewing, and a public official "may not limit or condition the availability of public records by requiring disclosure of the requester's identity or the intended use of the public record."

The law also states a public office cannot limit the number of public records made available to a single person and cannot establish a fixed period of time before the office responds to a request for inspection or copying of the records, unless it is less than eight hours.