Georgine Bowman

The agenda for the regular session meeting covered several key areas, primarily personnel actions including resignations, employment, and unpaid leaves of absence for both professional and support staff. Specific professional actions included employment for an Itinerant Preschool Intervention Specialist and various extracurricular/volunteer coaching positions, as well as the recommendation for a Home Instructor. Support staff actions involved processing resignations, unpaid leaves, and new employment for Educational Assistants and a Confidential Secretary. Discussion items included a resolution to initiate procedures for the reemployment of a retired employee, a Five Year Forecast review, feedback on district engagement, and potential staff and budgetary reductions totaling significant cost savings across multiple areas such as administrative positions, instructional specialists, teaching FTEs, building budgets, tutoring, service days, tuition reimbursement, technology cycles, assessment funding, and extracurricular fees. Additionally, the Board was asked to act on authorizing the Superintendent and Treasurer to waive prior-year student fees for economically disadvantaged families and to approve the disposal of numerous fixed assets including technology equipment, calculators, washers, consoles, and vehicles.

The work session agenda included a presentation on the State of the District. Superintendent recommendations covered personnel actions, specifically resignations (including one for retirement purposes), requests for unpaid leaves of absence for childrearing, new employments for professional staff (including a contract increase for a Speech Language Pathologist), extracurricular appointments for the 2025-2026 school year across high school, freshman, and middle school levels, the hiring of substitute teachers, and the approval of athletic volunteer coaches. Support personnel actions included resignations, unpaid leaves of absence, and new employments for replacement positions, as well as recommendations for athletic event workers and support substitutes. Board discussion items included the 2026 State Legislative Conference, FCSD OHSAA Membership, and an update on the School Bus Safety Grant. Items for Board action included recommending approval of the Middle School and High School Programs of Studies and renewing the 2026-2027 OHSAA membership resolution, adopting OHSAA rules as minimum requirements for student eligibility and coaching standards. Committee reports were given on Legislative updates, Butler Tech, Student Achievement, Parks and Recreation, and the Planning Commission. The session concluded with announcements for future community engagement events and a planned recess to executive session to discuss the employment of public employees.

The Fairfield City School District is proposing a 1.25% earned income tax, to be placed on the May 5, 2026 ballot, to address long-term financial challenges. This tax aims to diversify revenue sources, support general operating expenses including student programming and staffing, and reduce reliance on future property tax increases. If approved, the continuous tax would begin in January 2027, applying to wages and self-employment income of district residents.

The primary action item for this special meeting involved recommending the adoption of a resolution to propose and submit to the electors the question of imposing an additional 1.25% school district income tax for current expenses, effective January 1, 2027. This recommendation followed certification from the State Tax Commissioner regarding the required tax rates. The agenda also allocated time for public communication, limited to a maximum of thirty minutes in total.

The primary item for Board Action was the recommendation to approve a Resolution of Necessity. This resolution formally declares the need to raise additional revenue for school district purposes and requests the State Tax Commissioner to estimate the required property tax and school district income tax rates necessary to generate an additional $23,105,238 annually for current expenses. This procedural step is in anticipation of potentially placing a levy on the May 5, 2026, ballot. The agenda also set aside time for public participation.