What to do about the budget for the Warren County School District for the 2026-27 year, which starts with a $2,986,240 deficit, was the focus of a majority of Monday’s school board meeting.

Taking necessary steps for the budget, the informational timeline includes two goals. First, one of the biggest concerns is classroom size, especially in the elementary grade levels. It would have an impact on the educational services provided, said Treasurer Michael Kiehl. Next, he pointed out that there is not just one area to have a big cut in order to balance a budget. Those involved in budget discussions decided on taking small cuts to balance the budget without having to make drastic decisions. Kiehl believes the current budget they are working from will come close to breaking even.

The current approved budget is $92,907,959 and the projected budget for 2026-27 is $95,894,198 which leaves a deficit of $2,986,240. School board president Robert Cook said that before the next budget talk, he and Kiehl as well as Superintendent Gary Weber will work at trying to cut $1 million out.

With just one administrative cut, 564 employee positions are in the budget, making the increase largely due to salary and employee benefits. Health expenses continue to rise and WCSD has been a self-insured district. After seeing those costs dramatically increase from last year, it prompted a need to look at ways to merge with other self-insured groups. Other districts that operate like WCSD laid out a merged plan to Highmark where they agreed to meet in the middle. After negotiations, it was decided to stay as is. Currently speaking with Highmark, this year’s increase would be 11.79% whereas last year’s was 23%.

Professional services that the district pays show a small decrease while moving the buildings and grounds from Sugar Grove to the central attendance area in Warren has given financial savings from gas mileage and vehicle usage, allowing more productivity.

Kiehl said that the school has to approve its budgets before the state finalizes its budget so the school has estimates that will need adjustments.

The (roughly) $3 million deficit will impact the fund balance ($24 million) projected that if in five years if operated with the same kind of increases, it will leave the district running out of money. Therefore, Kiehl, Weber and Board President Robert Cook plan to cut another $1 million expenditure from the budget. With over 60 reassessment appeals that have been taken to court, Kiehl plans to wait for the results before making the millage equalization process. The estimates for tax increases would range from approximately $340,000 to $1,300,000.

Weber pointed out the lateness of the state’s impasse created an uncertainty in the budget which then caused a spending freeze to a different start in terms of savings. How to address the projected deficit with the three options (tax increases, potential savings from 25-26 expenditures and the fund balance) prompted board member John Wortman to ask about the tracking of expenditures. Kiehl reported that the consolidation’s savings have largely come from salary and benefits. The district saved $1.8 million after cutting eight teachers, two custodians, three secretaries, two principals and an aide. Other savings include $161,000 from athletics consolidation and another $63,000 in non-athletic items, savings of $29,262 from the sale of the Sugar Grove building, utilities and maintenance savings from closed buildings. Kiehl said that today that is $2.1 million in savings and they plan to have that closer to $2.2 million by the end of this school year.

Board member Tammi Holden spoke about how the communities and students who have lost their schools have given their “pound of flesh.”

“I feel that it is time that we get the pound of flesh from the administration. It’s time. You’ve got $4,056,733 in administrative salary. You can give us half of what we are looking at as far as being over budget. This is getting to the point now where it seems like administrative supervisors are more important than anything else. It’s time to get a pound of flesh from the central office.”

The public applauded her comments.

Next, board member Misty Moore said the sale of the Sugar Grove building was misleading, that it has nothing to do with the consolidation of schools and should not be figured into the savings, pointing out that utilities have gone up at the Warren and Eisenhower high schools. The reported savings do not include the increased cost of utilities at the other schools, the increase in busing. While 80% of that cost is reimbursed by the state, Moore said it is still public tax money. There is also an extra cost for students who do virtual school and so the savings would be much lower when putting it all together.

Kiehl agreed that it was fair to take out the sale of the Sugar Grove building when figuring savings.

Kiehl also recommended $350,000 to be transferred into the district’s capital reserve fund due to a heating and air ventilation system that will be installed into the Sheffield school building. The roofing work needs to be done sooner than what was proposed in the seven-year plan, after the HVAC project is completed. If the district gets a grant for the HVAC replacement, it is beneficial to do the roof work sooner as opposed to waiting three more years.

Even with the capital reserve move, Kiehl believes the time is appropriate and he projected that the budget would break even.