Audit praises district's efforts

Niles schools were placed on fiscal watch a year ago.
NILES -- Noting that school officials already have taken steps to reduce the district's debt, Ohio Auditor Betty Montgomery issued a performance audit that lists additional ways the schools could save money.
"Niles school officials have clearly demonstrated their dedication to the students and the community by taking proactive steps to implement savings and cut costs," Montgomery said in a release Thursday.
"It is our hope that our audit recommendations provide a roadmap to help the district achieve fiscal solvency."
Niles City Schools were placed under state-imposed fiscal watch status last March after initial projections were that the district would finish the 2002-03 school year more than $2 million in debt.
State officials began the performance audit of the schools shortly after the designation.
The audit assessed the schools' financial systems, human resources, facilities and transportation.
Meanwhile, local school officials have taken several steps to reduce the debt, including closing Garfield Elementary, reducing staffing through attrition, discontinuing contracts for library management, the career center and psychology services, and eliminating certain substitute positions, overtime, cell phones and nonmandatory field trips.
Recommendations
The moves were part of a financial recovery plan the schools submitted to the state auditor's office last year to show how it planned to reduce debt and finish the school year with a positive general fund balance.
Montgomery praised the efforts in her statement but made additional recommendations to help the district save more money.
They include:
UConsidering adjusting the district's busing policy to reflect state minimum standards.
UMaking adjustments in the district's health insurance, possibly by requiring all full-time employees to pay a portion of the monthly premium costs, reducing benefit levels or joining the Trumbull County Schools Insurance Consortium.
USeeking in future contract negotiations to remove the "no-reduction-in-force" clause from its contract with the union for nonteaching personnel.