EDUCATION Weathersfield schools improving financially

The district's finances look better than they have in two years.
MINERAL RIDGE -- Weathersfield Local Schools officials will ask the state to remove the district from the fiscal caution list, thanks to passage of two emergency levies.
On May 3, voters approved renewal of a $4.2 million, five-year emergency levy which generates $418,128 a year. In November, voters approved a $5.5 million, five-year emergency operating levy, which generates $538,168 a year.
School officials said this is the fist time in two years the district's finances have looked this good. District Treasurer Angela Lewis presented an updated five-year forecast to the board which budgets a 2 percent cost of living increase for all employees starting in 2006 through 2009.
A cash flow adjustment was also made through April 30, 2005, since expenditures were less than expected. The district is now projecting an unreserved fund balance through 2009. That is the first year trouble may arise, Lewis said, if all state funding sources remain steady, because the balance is only $63,734. The district expects to end 2008 with an unreserved balance of $709,163.
She noted in her report that the five-year forecast is based on current state legislation. But, she added, that if Ohio House of Representatives Bill 66, which calls for elimination of personal property tax over a five-year period and then a five-year period of "hold harmless" for school districts, is passed, the district's forecast would change "dramatically." Weathersfield is ranked 16th in the state out of 615 school districts for its reliance on personal property tax income, Lewis said.
Contract dealings
For the third year in a row, non-teaching employees of the district have agreed to roll over their contract, with no increases in the pay scale.
The move affects 30 Ohio Association of Public Schools employees.
The board approved the one-year rollover Wednesday. Employees first agreed to a one-year extension in 2003, when the district was placed under state fiscal watch, and agreed to an extension again the following year.
This time they extended their contract to June 30, 2006, but have included a "me too" clause in the agreement while negotiations continue with the district's 69 teachers in the Mineral Ridge Education Association.
Superintendent Michael Hanshaw said that there have been four negotiation sessions with the educators, who are headed by president Jennifer Staunton.
Talks started in March after teachers agreed to a wage freeze. Negotiations with the teachers stalled after the group changed affiliations and dropped out of the Ohio Education Association bargaining unit. Because the group was involved in litigation until January, the state would allow no bargaining sessions. Another negotiation session is scheduled next week.