Niles superintendent asks state for fiscal plan extension

NILES — Schools Superintendent Ann Marie Thigpen said her financially troubled district will be unable to produce a workable financial plan by the state-ordered Nov. 27 deadline and has requested an extension to Dec. 31.

The Office of School Finance in early October declared the Niles schools were in fiscal caution. The Ohio Department of Education has demanded submission of a plan for school district solvency by the start of fiscal year 2019.

“We didn’t want to rush and throw a plan together that we couldn’t execute,” Thigpen told the board of education tonight.

The board had hoped for passage of a 9.25-mill additional levy that would have generated $2 million, but the issue was rejected last week by 70 percent of the voters. Thigpen said after the defeat the district will resubmit the levy in the May primary election.

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