Newbury Schools are facing four possible futures: Merge with West Geauga Schools, merge with Berkshire Schools, split the district between the two or find a way to remain independent and fiscally viable.
Newbury Schools are facing four possible futures: Merge with West Geauga Schools, merge with Berkshire Schools, split the district between the two or find a way to remain independent and fiscally viable.
In a short meeting June 12, Newbury Schools Board of Education President Maggie Zock said she, Superintendent Michelle Kalish and Treasurer Nancy McPeak met the previous week with representatives from those districts to discuss the options.
Also present at the discussion were representatives from the Geauga County Educational Services Center.
The center has agreed to take the role of facilitator for the process, Zock said.
The West Geauga and Berkshire representatives said they would take the matter to their boards within the next two weeks to determine if there is a level of interest in a merger, she said.
If those boards agree to move forward with an exchange of information, Zock said she recommends the Newbury board consider hiring the Public Finance Company to collect and present data, then analyze both districts so Newbury board members can compare it.
Discussions on pursuing a merger and sharing the data with the public would follow, she said.
“First we have to see the data before we get into that conversation,” she said, adding she wants to explore all options and make decisions on what is best for Newbury Township students.
Board member Marty Sanders said the process could take two to three years.
“In that time, we are losing students because of instability of the school and losing young staff and old staff due to insecurity of the school,” he said.
In November 2017, Zock, Kimya Matthews and Terry Sedivy were elected to the five-member board running on a platform of consolidating with another district.
In May 2018, Berkshire Schools passed a levy to build a pre-kindergarten-through-grade-12 school on the Kent State University – Geauga campus with the state covering 55 percent of the construction costs. In the past few years, Berkshire has proposed merging with Newbury and Cardinal school districts.
In February, the Newbury board voted 3-2 against placing two emergency renewal levies on the May ballot. The renewal levies consist of a 7.7-mill, 10-year levy that raises $1,356,000 annually and a 10-year, 6.8-mill levy that yields $1,200,000 annually, which are set to expire in 2019, with collections ending in 2020.
The Ohio Auditor of State representatives who examined the five-year forecast said it was correct.
At a meeting in March 2018, the auditor team projected that deficit spending will begin by 2020, but cash accrued from levies means the district will not face general fund deficits until 2022.
The three board members voting against the resolution in February said they wanted verification of the five-year forecast that predicts the district would be in the red by 2022. The board must act in July to place one or both levies on the November ballot this year.
Sanders commended Berkshire for getting its levy passed, but the doors won’t open for three years and, meanwhile, the Newbury district needs to continue to operate, he said.
Although the Berkshire levy passed, there are still a lot of topics to be addressed there and details to be worked out.
“Berkshire is looking like a great option, but there’s a lot of costs involved,” Sanders said. “When the building is built, we will know the tax structure.”
Zock said Tuesday’s meeting was just to update the board and discuss the timeline and projections, not make decisions about the levy.
“I might as well beat my head against the wall,” Sanders said. “This process takes time. Telling the staff one year isn’t fair to them.”
Attrition of students and staff is as likely to end Newbury Schools as failure to pass the renewal levies, he said.
