Liberty school board members reclaim control of the district

It seemed anticlimactic. No confetti, no balloons floating down from the ceiling, no high school marching band. There was only the vote.

Granted, the word “only” may not be fair considering what the vote signified: the dissolving of the state-mandated Liberty School District fiscal oversight commission. The action ended three years of the school system’s finances being managed by the state panel.

The end of the commission’s work also marks the beginning of a new era — fiscally speaking — for Liberty. That’s because when the state auditor declared the district to be in fiscal emergency, the operating budget was bleeding red ink. It had a $1.9 million deficit.

By any measure, the past three years have been challenging, not only because the elected members of the board of education had to — under state law — follow the dictates of the appointed members of the commission, but because significant belt-tightening was demanded.

Schools Superintendent Stan Watson wasn’t exaggerating when he said, “It was a long battle, and there were lives and livelihoods affected, and we were in a dire financial situation.” Watson’s comment was made Dec. 1, after the commission, chaired by Paul Marshall on behalf of the Ohio Department of Education, voted to put itself out of business.

It wasn’t enough to close the $1.9 million budget hole. The district had to come up with a five-year balanced budget forecast that necessitated a reduction in staff and a change from self-insurance to participation in an insurance consortium.

But while the lifting of state-mandated fiscal emergency was welcomed by all, it was clear that not all members of the board of education agreed with the commission’s assessment on the issue of the insurance.

Diana DeVito contended that self-insurance saved the district money and enabled it to pay off $958,000 to the state solvency fund.

However, Marshall explained that self- insurance required the district to maintain “a big pot of money” in order to pay claims.

Such disagreements notwithstanding, the release from fiscal emergency is cause for celebration.

“It was a wonderful day,” DeVito said, “to get out of that kind of a mess in 3 Ω years, with no additional tax burden on the citizens of Liberty, and I want to emphasize the sacrifice.”

Job losses

According to the board member, who has served as president, 22 employees lost their jobs and 14 went from full- to part-time.

In order to get the budget in balance and to develop a five-year revenue and spending plan that maintains fiscal stability, the district had to cut about $4 million.

Yes, sacrifices had to be made, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that the operating budget imploded because of mismanagement and poor decision making.

The fiscal oversight commission was brought in, as required by state statute, to ensure that the hole in the budget did not get bigger and that a recovery plan would be developed without regard to politics or personal agendas.

To their credit, Superintendent Watson, the administration and the school board cooperated fully with Marshall and his colleagues.

Indeed, the chairman of the commission had high praise for Watson and Treasurer Lori Simeon for the heavy lifting they did to return the district to fiscal good health.

Now, with the state out of the way, it’s up to the superintendent, the board, the teachers and staff to ensure that the school system does not suffer a financial relapse.