(PHOTO BY JESSIE DAVIS / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
NEW LIBRARIAN … New Librarian Marian Veld introduced herself to the Swanton Local School District Board of Education during the board’s meeting on Wednesday.
By: Jesse Davis
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jesse@thevillagereporter.com
The Swanton Local School District Board of Education got a sneak peek at updates to the five-year forecast at its meeting Wednesday evening.
According to Treasurer Sheila Horseman, the district’s income tax collections from July were up roughly 8 percent from last year, with the next payment coming in by the end of this month.
Horseman wrote in her update that the new state funding formula for districts including the Fair School Funding Plan “results in significant changes to the calculation and payment of state foundation funding,” with one of the major changes being “a move to fund students where they are educated, rather than where they live.”
“Community school students, STEM school students, students participating in a scholarship program (Autism Scholarship and Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship), and students participating in open enrollment will all be directly funded at their educating entity,” Horseman wrote.
“This change eliminates the deduction and transfer of funds from resident districts to educating entries for students participating in these school choice options.”
Declining enrollment and increasing property values have left Swanton’s state funding flat, she wrote.
Board members will receive a draft of the five-year forecast revenue projections after the October tax collection, and a full presentation will be given at the November 15 board meeting.
REPORT CARD ON OHIO SCHOOLS
Superintendent Chris Lake reported the school district had received its report card from the Ohio Department of Education.
The district received an overall score of 3.5 stars, where three is considered the standard. District scores included four stars for achievement, two for student growth expectations, four for closing educational gaps, four for graduation, and three for early literacy.
At the individual school level, the elementary received three stars, while the middle school earned four and the high school earned 3.5.
OTHER BUSINESS
The board accepted donations $301.21 from Tano’s Pizza, $15,000 from Sunny Days In-Home Care, and $25,000 from an anonymous donor for the baseball/softball complex, $408.31 from Kroger for prom, an anonymous $200 donation for volleyball, $100 from Campus Box Media for athletics, $11,000 from Margaret A. Eldred/Red Barn Fund for musical instruments for the elementary school music program, $5,000 from North Star Bluescope Steel for the spring baseball trip, and $50 from CHarles and Theresa Erdman for the Veteran’s Day program.
The district has put a new school bus into service that replaced an older bus which had been driven more than 200,000 miles.
The board approved a single payment in lieu of transportation for a family of five.
The public portion of the meeting ended with the board voting to go into executive session for the purpose of discussing compensation. No action was expected as a result.
The next regular meeting of the Swanton Local School District Board of Education is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 13 at 108 N. Main Street.