Officials optimistic about Liberty school's future

By danny restivo

drestivo@vindy.com

liberty

The school district is looking at cutting its deficit in half over the next year.

The state auditor’s office released a statement of revenues and expenditures for fiscal year 2013 which will allow the school to pay off $961,000 in debt without borrowing any money.

The forecast was presented to the district’s state-appointed fiscal commission on Wednesday during a regularly scheduled meeting in the high school library. The draft proposal states the school will have a cash balance of $6,000 in 2013, which ends June 30, compared with a negative balance of $250,000 last year.

“It’s nice because we may not have to use a credit card to support the school,” said Kristen Rock, a parent representative on the commission. “This is a big step because we’ve had to borrow money every year for the past several years.”

The school is cutting personal expenditures by $500,000. The district is eliminating nine teaching positions, switching certain employees from full to part-time and hiring lower paid teachers in positions that were vacated by retirees.

One of the biggest cost-saving transfers is reducing the amount of money in a self-insurance fund by nearly $1 million. In December 2012, the district had $1,223,000 in the fund, but according to the account policy, the district only needed to maintain $311,000 in the fund. The district transferred the rest of the money to the general fund.

“Things are certainly looking better than they were a few months ago,” said Paul Marshall, chairman of the commission. “The bottom line is that we have reduced a whole lot of expenditures.”

Superintendent Stan Watson said the additional revenue from the self-insurance fund will only last a year. He said Wednesday’s meeting brought a lot of good news, but there are still challenges the district faces before it’s financially solvent again. One of those tasks includes contract negotiations with the teachers union. The current contract expired in August 2008, but the district is still following its wage scales.

“If we can get past next year, we may have a million dollars to work with,” said Watson.

The commission also approved a motion to eliminate a shared services arrangement with Hubbard school district, while approving the same agreement with Trumbull County Educational Services. The agreement stipulates the district will pay $250 a day for treasurer services until June 30.

Though the commission did express optimism over the auditor’s forecast, Marshall said a five-year forecast pieced together by the district’s treasurer staff will shed more light on Liberty’s financial future.

“I’m anxious to see what it will look like,” said Marshall. “We will know a lot more then.”

The commission’s next meeting is scheduled for March 27.