SALEM — The Salem city school district’s latest five-year financial forecast doesn’t see red until the fifth year in 2026.
Salem City Schools Treasurer Michael Douglas, though, said the number could be impacted between now and then both positively and negatively by a lot of things.
“Overall I see a relatively healthy bottom line moving forward,” he said.
According to the forecast, which was approved by the school board, the numbers start moving south in the third year until finally going to red in the final year. Those bottom line numbers, which are always changing as the forecasts are done each fall and spring, include: $3.3 million in Fiscal Year 2022; $3.4 million FY 2023; $2.8 million FY 2023; $1.5 million FY 2025; and then – $939,283 FY 2026.
Douglas said he and Superintendent Sean Kirkland are continuously looking at expenses. He noted for the board to keep in mind that the governor’s office could change hands in two years, which could affect the state formula. The current state budget increases the state formula dollars coming into the district over the next six years, but only two years are guaranteed since the state budget is approved every two years.
He also said the cost of benefits can change, too, depending on how much insurance premiums increase and the number of premium holidays given to the district, or times when the premium doesn’t have to be paid. He noted that for this year, he assumed one premium holiday and an 8 percent increase to the premium, but this year the district received two premium holidays and the premium only increased by little more than 3 percent.
An additional premium holiday adds $320,000 in savings, which can be a big effect.
During his report, Kirkland took some time to extend deepest sympathies from the board, himself and the Quaker family to the family and friends of Elizabeth Thatcher, Helen Shivers and Kera Leskovec, who all passed away recently.
Shivers, a lifelong area resident, taught special education and served as junior high/high school librarian, retiring from the district in 1993 after more than 20 years. Thatcher, another lifelong resident, graduated from Salem in 1945 and spent 38 years as a teacher for the district teaching French and Title I reading. After retiring, she served on the school board and in many other capacities in the community, including city council. He said her commitment to her students and the community will long be remembered.
Then he spoke of Leskovec, a young educator who was tragically killed in a traffic accident on her way to school recently. She taught junior high and high school math. He said she was a fearless teacher and while at times seeming quiet and even shy, she was anything but timid in the classroom, accepting nothing but her students’ best efforts.
To her parents, Denny and Deni Remasters, he said “Please know how much we appreciated your daughter and the level of respect we had for her courage, her work ethic, and her willingness to take on the toughest of educational challenges. She will always hold a spot in the hearts and memories of her Quaker family.”
In more uplifting news, he talked about the success of the fall athletic season, with the boys football team making it to the second round of the playoffs and individual players breaking numerous school records, the boys and girls soccer teams both finishing successful season with 5-1 records in the Eastern Buckeye Conference each for second place, a respectable season for girls volleyball, and also girls tennis finishing even in the NET league and a boy golfer qualifying individually in tournaments. Girls cross country placed fourth in the state meet and the boys team qualified for regionals, with Kirkland noting going to state is no easy feat.
The board was treated to essay readings by fourth graders in Julie Winn’s Quaker Time enrichment group at Reilly, who wrote about the different branches of the military and also set up a display for Veterans Day at their school. Fourth graders who spoke included Greyson Carroll on the Marines, Austin Bell and Colton Kasten on the Air Force and Kendal King on the Coast Guard. They were accompanied by Winn and Reilly Principal Cindy Viscounte.
In personnel matters, the board: accepted resignations from cafeteria worker Michele Walla, St. Paul auxiliary clerk Marjorie Zeigler, eighth grade girls basketball coach John Bryan, seventh grade boys basketball coach Cory Wonner and junior high girls basketball volunteer Kendra Richardson; named Ryan Murgatroyd as junior high head wrestling coach, Jordyn Burke as head competitive cheer coach, Lorina Moffett as assistant fall and spring play supervisor, Bill Cowgill as seventh grade boys basketball coach, Kendra Richardson as eighth grade girls basketball coach, Becky Carner and Char Monigold for the high school cafeteria; approved a reduction in hours for Lynn Givens at the Hannah E. Mullins School of Practical Nursing; and approved certified substitutes, winter game job titles and winter game workers.
The board also approved graphic design as a new course of study at Salem High School.