Fifteen lose jobs as state orders Bethel-Tate cuts

The Bethel-Tate Local Schools will cut 15 employees – including eight teachers – to help head off a $1 million-plus deficit that has the state threatening to seize control of the fiscal reins of the district.

Bethel-Tate has until Monday, May 4, to present the Ohio Department of Education with a plan on how to keep the district’s budget in the black, according to a letter from R. Dean Horton, a fiscal consultant with the state education department.

In addition to the teachers cut, five aides, one food truck driver and one part-time secretary will lose their jobs, Melissa Kircher, superintendent of the Bethel-Tate Local Schools, said.

“All cuts will be at the end of this school year and take effect next year,” Kircher said.

All public school districts in Ohio must twice a year submit a five-year projection of operational revenue and expenses and it was the plan that Bethel-Tate submitted last October that raised eyebrows in Columbus.

After a financial analysis by the state, Horton wrote Kircher to say he was less concerned about a negative fund balance predicted for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2017, than with the predicted “over spending” of nearly $1.08 million in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2016.

“This needs to be reduced by approximately $1 million to establish fiscal integrity in fiscal year 2016 and beyond,” Horton.

“Your district needs to submit a proposal that will allow the district to avoid this deficit.

“Please be aware that under the current fiscal caution guidelines your district could be placed in fiscal caution if your district fails to submit an acceptable proposal,” Horton said.

The Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction can put school districts in “fiscal caution,” in which representatives of the Ohio Department of Education and Auditor of State try to help school districts straightened out their finances.

Failure means the state auditor can put school districts in “fiscal watch” and “fiscal emergency” in which state officials have increasingly larger power to take the financial reins.

Kircher said the Bethel-Tate Local School District has made significant cuts in the past.

“However, they were not enough to keep up with the loss in state revenues, stagnant tax revenues and ever-increasing costs,” Kircher said.

Kircher said that she and Julie Kamphaus, interim Bethel-Tate treasurer, were working on more cuts long before hearing from the state.

“It is difficult to cut $1 million from a $15 million budget,” Kircher said.

“We regret that those cuts must include losses of our valued employees.”

Kamphaus addressed the financial elephant in the room.

“In the future, we may consider an emergency levy for our schools,” Kamphaus said.

“At this time, however, we are determined to be fiscally responsible and to make ends meet on our own. We understand that taxpayers in Bethel and Tate Township have had to make ends meet in their own lives and we will do the same,” Kamphaus said.

Horton advises the Bethel-Tate Local Schools that if its plan to head off the deficit includes a new levy, “you must also include contingency plans to address the potential deficit in case the levy fails.”

Bethel-Tate has a recent history of levy failures, Kircher said, including a 1-percent earned income-tax in November 2010, a 4.34-mill emergency levy in November 2009, a 5.9-mill emergency levy in May 2009 and a 1-percent earned income-tax in November 2008.

“The district was using (federal) stimulus monies and staff cuts totaling $2 million to help plug the hole from flat revenues from the state from 2009 to 2013,” Kircher said.

“When I came in 2011, I made gradual cuts, trying to be conservative and recognizing that revenue was dropping.

“We cut half of our fine arts teachers in kindergarten through fifth grade, we have not replaced teachers who have retired in certain areas and we cut the trimester schedule to semesters with a savings of $250,000 - affecting the high school with a loss of five teachers,” Kircher said cuts in administration have left the Bethel-Tate Local School District with no curriculum director, no assistant high school principal and a part-time athletic director.

“Transportation had one third of their routes cut this school year, causing all buses to be filled to capacity,” Kircher said

“The food service and custodian (departments) have seen a reduction to minimal staffing.

“The treasurer position is currently part-time and shared with Williamsburg (Local Schools),” Kircher said.

Want to know more about what is happening in Bethel and in Tate Township? Follow me on Twitter @jeannehouck.