11/08/2022
Dear Felicity Community,
In response to some recent posts with false information:
The district also spoke to Ms. Kim Richard and was told that many of the things that she was quoted as saying are in fact not true. Let us clarify a few things for the community.
First, the Five Year Forecast is an Ohio Department of Education required submission that states exactly what funds can and can’t be included. What this means is that treasurers can’t choose what funds to include or not include. The accusation that the district is leaving out revenue is untrue. The forecast includes local revenue and state revenue as these two types of revenue are deposited into the General fund (001). Federal funds are not deposited into the General fund therefore are not included in the forecast. See below which came directly from the Ohio Department of Education’s website.
O.R.C. §5705.391 and O.A.C. 3301-92-04 require a Board of Education (BOE) to submit a five-year
projection of operational revenues and expenditures along with assumptions to the Department of
Education of each fiscal year
of each fiscal year. ODE encourages school districts to update their forecast whenever events take place
that will significantly change the forecast.
Required funds to be included in the forecast are:
-General funds (001)
-Any special cost center associated with general fund money
-Emergency levy funds (016)
-Any debt service (002) activity that would otherwise have gone to the general fund
Note- All funds are included in the financial statements audited by the Auditor of State and are available upon request.
Class Size
According to Ms. Richard, she did not state that our class size is comparable to a private school.
In regards to cutting staff to increase the class sizes, we HAVE been reducing teaching positions since 2016 through attrition. We are at a point that if we cut any more, we will need to make decisions as a community that we are willing to cut programs that we all love.
Regarding Salaries, Raises, & Contracts
There is actually a lot that goes into negotiating the teacher contract with the Felicity Education Association. It is a give-and-take situation which is why it's called negotiations. We are not able to just renegotiate someone's contract just so we can keep them as you mention. Unfortunately that is not how it works.
As for raises, FELICITY SCHOOLS DID NOT GIVE ANY TEACHER A 24K RAISE! The data out in the Checkbook.ohio.gov is wrong. In 2021 it does not include that particular teacher's summer extended service pay for working over the summer. It is also incorrect for 2022 because in that year, she worked 260 days including the summer work days, not 183.
As for why some teachers make more than others with the same degree, it's due to supplemental contracts, coaching, sponsors, clubs, etc. Some teachers have additional pay for the additional time they work for these additional positions they work.
Cash Balance
Regarding our $5 million cash balance that we have worked so hard to save over the past six years. It is through attrition, renegotiated contracts, and reduced expenditures wherever possible that we have been able to delay this levy as long as we have. The longer we wait, the higher the mills we will have to pass. If we wait until our cash balance is depleted, the amount of mills that we will have to pass to cover the deficit will never be a possibility for this community. It is not prudent to wait until you are out of funds to prepare for the future. We must start early enough so that the amount is attainable.
If anyone needs additional information or would like to discuss further, do not hesitate to schedule a meeting.
