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Niles superintendent asks state for fiscal plan extension
By Jordan Cohen
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 Thursday.
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.
The superintendent said she discussed the extension with an ODE representative, but it will be up to the department to formally approve it.
There is no indication when the state will respond. Should it approve the extension, Thigpen plans a conference with district constituents and the state.
“I’m hoping to meet with our administrative team and share information with union officials and a representative of the Office of School Finance,” Thigpen said.
The projected deficit for 2019 is $1.4 million, a reduction from an earlier projection of $2 million, but still unacceptable to the state.
Under fiscal caution, a district is required to produce a workable financial plan containing no deficits for five years. Should that not occur, the district could face a designation of fiscal watch, which it previously endured for 13 years until being released by the state in 2016.
The worst-case scenario is fiscal emergency in which a fiscal commission must approve all spending as has been the case in the city of Niles since late 2014.
Only five spectators attended the board meeting despite the district’s highly publicized financial issues. The sparse attendance concerned the superintendent.
“It tends to be a little bit frustrating,” Thigpen told reporters. “Life is busy and maybe they just couldn’t make it. We want to talk about the positive things we’re doing, [and] this is the platform.”