COLUMBIANA State warns school district

The district must come up with a plan to address its financial crisis.
By JEFF ORTEGA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- The Columbiana Exempted Village Schools has been placed on fiscal watch, the state says.
State Auditor Betty Montgomery said Tuesday she placed the school system on fiscal watch because it failed to submit a "reasonable" plan to the Ohio Department of Education to address its faltering financial condition.
The school system's most recent five-year forecast estimates $482,000 shortfall for the fiscal year that ends June 30, 2005.
Under state law, the approximate 1,000-pupil school system, which straddles Mahoning and Columbiana counties, must submit a financial plan to Susan Tave Zelman, superintendent of public instruction, within 60 days, state officials said.
Failure to do so means the school district could be placed in fiscal emergency, the state said. A fiscal emergency, if declared, could clear the way for creation of a state-appointed commission to oversee development of a financial plan.
Hopeful solutions
Robert Thomas, interim superintendent of Columbiana schools, said he believes a financial-recovery plan being developed by the school system will keep the district from sliding further into financial problems.
Thomas said the district's financial plan hinges on one-year contract extensions to be worked out with its employee unions.
Thomas said the schools and the union representing teachers have approved a one-year extension to a three-year pact that expires this year that calls for a wage scale freeze and reductions in force.
The schools and the union representing classified employees have reached a tentative agreement on a one-year extension to a two-year pact expiring this year that also calls for a similar freeze, Thomas said.
School board ratification is expected Thursday, the interim superintendent said.
The contract extensions plus about $1 million in budget cuts should allow the schools to erase the projected deficit, Thomas said.
School Treasurer Lori Posey said the district expects it will eliminate from nine to 11 positions before the next school year to reduce costs.
The district is made up of one high school, one middle school and one elementary school and has an annual general-fund budget of about $7.5 million, Thomas said.
XCONTRIBUTOR: D.A. Wilkinson of the Salem Bureau.