Prepared Notes for Board Meeting
February 8, 2010
Marc A. Schare
The Treasurer’s Advisory
Committee met last week and received a very raw, preliminary report from the
auditor. The report looked at staffing levels in each Worthington building
compared to the average of our peer group. The report, preliminary as it was, hinted
that Worthington taxpayers are indeed paying a price for the benefit of having
small, neighborhood schools, a condition that was most evident when looking at
our middle schools. The report does not attempt to get into quality issues. The
auditing team also provided a look at busing efficiency. The thing that jumped
off the page at me was the percentage of students that took the bus. In
Worthington, it was 47% while in our peer group districts, it was 75.7%. The
auditor will be looking closely and these and other anomalies. Let me stress
that all of this data is preliminary and that the TAC will go where the data
takes us.
The TAC also looked at the
current forecast post-levy. It would appear that if we do nothing, the forecast
demonstrates a requirement for 2 additional operating levys and a bond issue in
the next 4 years. The TAC will continue to work with and monitor the
Superintendent’s budget review committee as well as other district initiatives
in hopes of keeping the levy cycle manageable in the face of increasing costs,
state budget shortages, the loss of the tangible personal property tax and the
continuing drip-drip-drip of unfunded state mandates such as all day
Kindergarten and House Bill 373.