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It is wonderful to hear that my mailer made it to you!
You might have noticed that I placed a sticker under the heading that “I will be Proactive, Not Reactive.” Well, my “proactiveness” of designing my campaign included making these postcards this summer. At that time, as Perry residents, we were informed that our district was deficit spending; however, the school had not received the amount that they would received from the State from the new Fair Funding program. Perry received over $600,000, which was more than enough to offset our expenditures for FY24. However, we are still forecasted to deficit spend in FY25, 26, and 27. A new 5-year forecast will be completed in November, which we are hoping for favorable projections.
Nonetheless, as a school board member, I believe that we must be proactive in our decision making responsibilities and that fiscal responsibility is of the utmost importance. The decisions that are made today greatly impact our district’s future, both positively and negatively. We need to make good financial decisions that preserve the greatness of our school district in the future!
I also believe a school board member should be open-minded and adaptable. Just as in this situation, as new information was received, I adapted and evolved my campaign. If elected, I will continue to be willing to receive new information and implement it into my decision making process.
I appreciate you taking the time to learn more about me and my goals as a potential school board member. If you have any concerns or thoughts, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. Thank you, again, for your support!
Chandice Richards
10/4/2023
PERRY PROUD • PERRY STRONG
School Finances are Not Complicated...Take a Moment to Read Why Chandice Chose to Run for School Board
This past week our school and community have been discussing school finances! Yes!!! I love it!! I feel that I need to share my “extended” thoughts on this conversation…
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School funding is supervised by the State of Ohio, and it has very strict requirements. The Ohio Revised Code requires every school district to submit a board approved 5 year forecast twice a year, and each school must submit notes that document any changes or assumptions in its forecast.
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On May 30, 2023, Perry Local School District submitted its required Spring report to the State of Ohio, which clearly detailed our district deficit spending for all 5 years listed in the forecast. It can be reviewed, here:
https://reports.education.ohio.gov/.../finance-forecast...
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This forecast and report was approved during the May 16, 2023, school board meeting. No conversation, no discussion, and no planning happened during that board meeting. It was just approved. It can be viewed here https://youtu.be/uasxYINyoVI .
*Go to 1hr 5min to see the unanimous vote.
In July, every Perry household was mailed the Perry Way newsletter, which is when I got mine! It was the information on page 7 that raised my eyebrows!! On page 7, it devoted an entire page explaining our current finances for our school district. It listed our financials submitted to the state of Ohio, which illustrated our forecasted deficit spending this year and continuing for the next 3 years! To view this document, click this link: https://campussuite-storage.s3.amazonaws.com/.../Perry...
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Knowing there was going to be a vacancy on the school board because our long time serving board member, Mark Welch, was not rerunning, I decided that it was time for me to run. I was willing to tackle this financial situation!
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I submitted by petition to run for school board in July, and I began planning my campaign with the platform of promising the Perry Community that I will be PROACTIVE, NOT REACTIVE, that FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY is important, that I was willing to have tough conversations that aren’t popular, and that I will listen to the voices of our tax payers.
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As a result of my campaign, I believe it has initiated needed conversations, which is a good thing!! It has brought light to the foreseeable deficit spending and the reality of cutting student programs while adding administrative positions. Although it has been painted as a negative campaign, this is far from the truth! I love Perry, and I am Proud of Perry! I just want to ensure that the decisions that are being made today preserve the greatness of our school district in the future!
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On September 19, 2023, during the recorded board meeting, the topic of the 5 year forecast was addressed. Jen Capo, our new CFO, explained that due to NEW REVENUE from the Ohio Fair School Funding Plan, Perry is able to balance the budget this fiscal year!!! It can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/uZQ9AtF3FUw *Go to 5 min 30 sec
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This was wonderful news!!! Perry received MORE funds than it anticipated. I had a thorough conversation with Jen Capo following this board meeting. She confirmed that we should not deficit spend in FY24, but FY25, FY26, and FY27 are still uncertain.
As required by the state, Mrs. Capo will be preparing a new 5 year forecast in November. This report will have more accurate numbers regarding the Ohio Fair School Funding Plan revenue as well as higher interest rates on our savings, so it will be interesting to see what is forecasted for FY25, 26, and 27.
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As a taxpayer, I am EXTREMELY happy that the State of Ohio created a new program that gave our district more revenue to balance this year’s budget, and I am elated that we are not deficit spending for FY24; however, we need to continue to have discussions and encourage our administrators to be good stewards of our finances so that the FY25 of -$1.5 million, FY26 of -$2.5 million, and FY27 -$4.7 million in our forecast does NOT occur. I look forward to seeing the adjusted and updated November forecast.
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While I have your attention… there is more important topic I want to discuss, our School District’s Revenue. Our total revenue is approximately $24 million. We get about $10.8 million in Real Estate Taxes, $3.6 million in State Foundation, about $680,000 in Rollback/Homestead, $600,000 in *Ohio Fair Schools Funding Plan (*new this year), and other sources, such as Earmarked Funds/ Grants ($1 million), but Perry has an additional revenue of $8 million that majority of the school districts in Ohio DO NOT have. This is the TPP Reimbursement (the Phase-out of Tangible Personal Properties and Utility Deregulation). This TPP revenue is controlled by the Governor’s bi-annual budget. Currently, Perry schools are approved by his budget to receive these funds in FY24 and FY25. We have to wait until FY26 to see if the Governor will honor it again. This is another reason why I believe it is important to prevent deficit spending in our 5 year forecast and that we need to keep our reserves strong!! If the TPP reimbursement stops or decreases (which decreases have happened in the past), Perry Schools will need our reserves to keep our district afloat until major actions can be made. For years, our past school boards have been diligent to protect our reserves knowing that TPP is never guaranteed. This goal should always be a priority of our school board. We must hold our administrators to be good stewards of our school finances.
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In the spring, we were projected to deficit spend. This is why I questioned the added administrative positions, the agreement to an expensive contract service, and increased administrative salaries at the same time our 5 year forecast clearly displayed deficit spending. It seemed reckless to expand our administration knowing that we were forecasted to deficit spend. It also seemed to contradict the actions of cutting student programming and not rehiring teachers due to attrition in enrollment, yet administrative positions were being expanded.
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My priority is to make sure funds stay in the classroom and in the areas that directly benefit students.
At Perry, we have and always have had outstanding teachers and staff. In the past, our teachers and staff took a 10 YEAR PAY FREEZE because they understood TPP and understood the importance of the 5 year forecast. They were PROACTIVE! I don’t want that to happen again, which is why I feel that it is important that the 5-year-forecast is constantly being reviewed, discussed, and taken seriously so that the best decisions are made to keep our district financially strong for years to come!
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As a long time Perry resident, I know our school district’s financial history. It is important to have individuals on the board that understand budgets, understand our history, willing to review the revenue and expenditures, and want to actively discuss ways to continue the financial strength of our school district. This is why I am a strong candidate. If elected, I humbly look forward to working with the members of our school board by adding another perspective in tackling school issues, especially when it comes to finances.
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Once again, it will always be my goal to keep the community informed with the good or the bad. I hope this clears up any confusion and to better understand my intentions.
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Sincerely,
Chandice
dated: 9/24/2023