After hearing a five-year forecast predicting deficit spending for the next five years during Monday’s board meeting, the Crestview School Board may face tough decisions. Treasurer Tina Bennett presented the board with a fiscal forecast that foresees a decrease in the district’s General Fund cash balance from its current level of $5.08 million to only $735,503 by the end of the 2019 Fiscal Year.
“That sounds like a lot of money, but it actually does not even cover one month of operations,” Bennett said of the $735,503 that would remain.
In two of the past three years, the district has experienced deficit spending – spending more money than is brought in. In Fiscal Year 2012, the district brought in $344,712 less than was spent and in Fiscal Year 2014, the district’s expenditures were $145,455 more than revenue. However, Bennett said this was a new problem for the district.
“If you go back 20 years, fortunately we have balanced our budget in 16 of those years,” Bennett said. “Those years when we’ve had a surplus, the district has been very conservative and has put the money into savings, or what we call our carryover.”
At the end of Fiscal Year 2014, which ended June 30, the district had a carryover of $5,077,640.
Bennett pointed to a decrease in state funding as a major reason for the changing fiscal situation at Crestview.
“Here’s some things we’re seeing: a decrease in student enrollment, more students going elsewhere, via open enrollment or online learning. That translates into a decrease in state funding,” Bennett said. “In addition, we’re hearing projections for casino revenue to decrease and it has been suggested that districts be very, very cautious when forecasting.”
The treasurer explained she was presenting the board with the financial situation and forecast, and it is now up to them to decide how they want to handle the situation.
“The good news is we are not in an emergency situation yet,” Bennett said. “We have time to process a plan and to look at options. The other positive is this district has not had a new operating levy since 1991.”
Board members were concerned by the forecast and expressed a desire to tackle the issue now.
“There’s going to be no easy solution here,” board member Jamie McGraw said. “It’s very disheartening to sit here and try every way you can and ask teachers, ask custodians ask people to get by with less because somebody at the state level has chosen to cut our funding.”
“When you take a look at the numbers, I think you have to get to the point where we consider all options,” said board President Bill Bolin. “I’ve always felt we’re a lot better off to ask for a little bit sooner than to wait until we’re in real big trouble and have to ask for a whole bunch.”
While Bolin said he is open to all options, whether it is finding new revenue sources or making cuts, he thinks it would be hard to make more cuts. “I don’t know that we can make many more cuts that aren’t going to start to affect those inner circles of the education process,” Bolin said.
Bolin suggested asking community members what type of tax they would be more interested in, instead of automatically pushing for a property tax as schools have done in the past.
“I think the thing that scares me more than anything is not running out of money, but getting to the point where things get so bad that you push levies, and push levies, and things do get so bad that they barely pass and then whether we like it or not we divide the community and I just don’t want to see that happening,” Bolin said.
“We need to let the voters know this will be a temporary fix,” McGraw said of any possible levies. “Until it’s fixed somewhere else, we are just biding time. We will be back time and time again. The people of this district cannot afford 10, 12, 14 mills to just get us to breaking even at the end of the year 2017.”
“I think the state has to look at completely overhauling how schools are funded in this state,” said board member Ducia Hamm.
The board is planning several work sessions after the first of the year to discuss funding options.
The fiscal forecast influenced several other agenda items the board addressed later in the meeting. The board discussed a proposal to sponsor a swim and dive team. Athletic Director Tim Kuhn explained that in the past, a few individual athletes had competed in swimming or diving, but not a full team.
“We have 13 young ladies at this point in time interested in swimming and diving. I would expect that number to increase over the years due to the number of younger students we have involved in the Aqua Aces swim team,” Kuhn said.
Kuhn said Ashland High School has agreed to allow Crestview to use one lane of the pool at the Ashland YMCA during Ashland swim practices at no cost for the 2014-15 season. Superintendent Randy Dunlap emphasized that there would be no cost to the district for this year’s swim and dive team. Team members will pay all entry fees associated with entering meets and will be responsible for their own transportation to and from meets. Mindy McPherran will serve as volunteer swim and dive coach.
Board members expressed concerns about funding a swim and dive team if it continues to grow as predicted given the district’s financial forecast, but approved sponsorship of the team for this school year.
Also during the meeting, Bolin and McGraw were honored by the Ohio School Board Association for more than 15 years of service as a board member.
“We thank Mr. McGraw and Mr. Bolin for their service to public education and their commitment to the students and families of the Crestview district,” said Kim Miller Smith, OSBA Regional Manager.
“The good news is we are not in an emergency situation yet,” Treasurer Mary Bennett said. “We have time to process a plan and to look at options. The other positive is this district has not had a new operating levy since 1991.”
