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Commission focused on Recovery Plan



State-mandated group hoping to move Coventry district out of fiscal emergency status

COVENTRY — The Coventry Financial Planning and Supervision Commission’s Bob Foss, who previously served in the nonvoting position of secretary beginning when Coventry Local Schools was first placed in fiscal emergency in December 2015 and until last January, returned as chair to replace former chairman Dave Michel at the Jan. 6 meeting.
Foss stated he wants to focus more on the district’s Financial Recovery Plan and other efforts that will help Coventry Local Schools better address its financial matters.
“The goal [of focusing on this plan] is to get Coventry Schools released from fiscal emergency as soon as possible,” he said.
The Recovery Plan includes guidelines for district operations to help Coventry Schools officials address financial and other matters that may impact the district’s bottom line and five-year forecast. Coventry Schools must produce a positive five-year forecast to be released from fiscal emergency. The district’s latest forecast shows deficit spending beginning in 2021 and negative balances for the last two of the five years.
Foss stated another focus in the effort to get the district out of fiscal emergency will be on the district’s health insurance expenditures. On this matter, commission members Holly Miller and Sean Fremon agreed to serve on a new Health Insurance Committee, which also will include two Coventry Board of Education members, union representatives and district officials. The committee will be looking for ways to help the district reduce health insurance costs, which were $4.8 million last year.
Commission members noted in a past meeting that district officials could see savings of $520,000 annually on health insurance expenditures with a change to an alternate plan. The committee will be exploring other plans to determine how the district can save on health insurance expenses.
In other financial matters, commission member Jack Pierson thanked district Treasurer Sherry Tyson for beginning monthly expense and revenue reports, which he said provided more transparency on the district finances. He asked that monthly appropriations be included.
Foss stated the reports were “helpful” in reviewing the district’s finances.
Pierson also suggested “a better method” to Tyson to budget for retirement encumbrances, which he said should be around 14 percent of salaries.
“You are expensing way more than you need to,” he added.
Also at the meeting, the commission approved a ratified agreement with the Coventry Education Association (CEA).
The agreement, approved by the Coventry Local Schools Board of Education Dec. 18, includes 131 teachers and tutors in the district, according to Superintendent Lisa Blough.
Blough explained the changes in the agreement, effective for the 2019-20 fiscal year, include increasing the number of days, from 10 to 20, that employees can transfer to a sick leave bank to be used by union members for long absences due to serious illness, and the adoption of an attendance incentive pilot.
Blough said the attendance pilot rewards employees for perfect attendance by offering cash bonuses: Those with perfect attendance can receive $500 and those with only one missed day will receive $225. Blough added the pilot is intended to address the district’s costly expenditures for teacher substitutes, which she said totaled about $160,000 for the last school year.
Blough thanked the CEA for its efforts as the district struggles to get out of fiscal emergency. She added that union members have not seen a base pay increase since the 2016-17 school year and members of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees, which includes 79 support and classified staff, have had no increase since the 2011-12 school year. CEA members continue to get step increases, which are based on continuing education, and all employees can get longevity increases, which are based on years of service.
“We are continuing to work together in a positive direction,” she added. “This is a tough place to be in, and they have shown they are understanding of the district’s financial situation.”
The next commission meeting will take place Jan. 21 at 4:30 p.m. at Coventry Elementary School, located at 3089 Manchester Road.