Clearview Schools to avoid RIFs through attrition

SHEFFIELD TOWNSHIP — Clearview Schools may remain in the black during the next five years without cutting personnel. The district, which submitted a plan to the state earlier this year calling for more than $1 million in cuts to staff to maintain fiscal solvency, has balanced its budget through attrition rather than reductions in force. Treasurer Mary Ann Nowak updated the board of education on the schools' May five-year forecast during a special board meeting on Thursday. A deadline to submit the forecast, with board approval, to the state by the end of the month necessitated the special meeting, as the board's next regular session is not until June. Clearview Schools submitted its fiscal plan to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce in February, a requirement due to a pending $2 million budget shortfall predicted for the 2026-27 school year. That plan called for cutting $1.9 million per year in salaries, including eliminating at least eight teachers, an assistant principal and a social worker alongside other budget cuts. Instead of eliminating people, the district will get by by eliminating positions, Superintendent Jerome Davis said. The only staffed position eliminated is the social worker, he said, which was through a contract with the Lorain County Educational Service Center and was not a Clearview employee. As talk of RIFs circulated this spring — with teachers packing school board meetings — retirements and resignations began rolling across Davis' desk. Clearview Education Association President Joel Gleason tallied those retirements and resignations. He estimated the 11 union members who retired or left as the school year wound down would save the district just over $1 million for next school year. His estimate did not include Vincent Elementary Assistant Principal Jen Fazio, whose position was eliminated, or the building's principal, Lynn Stark, who recently tendered her resignation. The district will have to fill Stark's position, Davis said, and there may be postings for teachers in needed positions due to curriculum requirements versus staff certifications, but he did not know how many positions that would be. Davis said if the district does fill open positions, it will be with individuals with less experience to keep costs low. "And then we've got to keep track of what we spend," he said. "I've had conversations about our supplemental positions — you only have 20 to 30 kids (on a team) but 10 coaches, why do I need 10 coaches?" He said staff members who are being retained in new positions have been notified of the changes — and those changes could continue if more resignations come across his desk. Nowak's five-year forecast projects Clearview Schools to spend against its cash balance, but remain in the black through 2029. Her forecast, as initially presented to the board, did not include a $439,000 increase in revenue from the 20-mill floor, the minimum millage state law requires schools receive from property taxes. "I've always waited until I know for sure what the money is going to be," Nowak said during the special meeting explaining why the revenue bump was not included. Board member Patricia Echko pushed back, questioning if a letter from the county auditor certifying the new revenue amount "isn't good enough?" "I don't overinflate the numbers, I take a conservative approach, I always have," Nowak replied. "In November, when we do the next forecast I will have actual money received and I'll be able to see if the revenue actually comes in as the auditor predicts." The board pushed her to include the additional revenue from the 20-mill floor in the forecast. With the additional money, the district still predicts to deficit spend by 2029, but not as badly. Without the additional funds budgeted, the forecast predicted its revenue of $19.6 million to outpace its $19.7 million expenses next school year, whittling down a $10 million cash balance year-over-year. With the additional $439,000 each year starting in 2026, the district will not deficit spend until 2027, when an estimated $20 million in revenue would be outpaced by about $20.2 in expenses. During that board meeting, members discussed the little change predicted in personnel costs even with the reductions considered since February. Nowak said the personnel costs reflected in her forecast were from the February plan submitted to the state, which included about $1 million in cuts to personnel costs. Her forecast includes negotiated raises to the district's two unions, as well as a projected pay step increase as staff remain with the district, which equates to a little over a 4 percent increase each year. Personnel costs remain pretty flat, Nowak said, due to the reductions made through attrition. She told the board the only major change between the May forecast and numbers from February, which included the projected staff reductions, was to add back $6 million from a capital projects fund to the schools' general fund. "Technically, the number is OK for now until we actually do the reduction," board President Mike Post said of the projected personnel costs on Nowak's forecast. Nowak said the forecast is an estimate, and the only truly accurate numbers are those already in the past. She said the numbers for 2025 — the current fiscal year — include everyone who worked this school year, not positions cut. "Everybody that started here is still here and they're getting their salaries until this year closes out," Nowak said. When Echko continued to question the schools' cash balance and why the district was spending against it — and whether that would raise red flags with the state — Nowak said the district should continue to watch the amount it is deficit spending but the cash balance buffers it. "That's how school districts are designed to run in the state of Ohio," Nowak said. "We wear down our levies until they're exhausted and we have to go out for another levy." The state requires districts keep a minimum cash balance of three months operating expenses on hand by the end of each five-year forecast. For Clearview Schools, that is about $5 million. It is projected to end fiscal year 2029 — the 2028-29 school year — with about $5.4 million cash on hand. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.