Westlake superintendent says district steady amid funding uncertainty; highlights safety, programs and partnerships

Westlake City Schools Superintendent Dr. Christopher Goggin delivered a State of the Schools presentation March 24, telling the district that it is positioned to continue operations despite federal and state funding uncertainty.

Goggin said federal grants provide roughly $2 million to $2.5 million annually to the district — listing Title I at $420,000, IDEA (special education) at $914,000 and free-and-reduced-price-meal reimbursements at $557,000 — while the district’s total annual budget is about $60 million. He said the district has not received any indications that those funds will be eliminated and that, operationally, federal grants are currently accessed and managed through the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce (ODEW). Goggin said that even if federal funding streams shift administratively, he expects little day-to-day impact on school operations and that special education services would continue.

At the state level, Goggin described greater risk. He said the governor’s budget proposal included a $560,000 increase for Westlake in the 2025–26 school year and a $510,000 increase in 2026–27 but cautioned those figures are proposals and the state budget must be finalized by the June 30 deadline. He also urged community advocacy for public education and implementation of the Fair School Funding formula.

Goggin highlighted a recent community partnership and several district priorities: University Hospitals committed to donating $500,000 over 10 years and to provide a combined 2.5 athletic trainers across high school and middle school campuses; the district is expanding career-technical offerings (welding and MEMS at Westshore consortium sites and a new forensic course at Westlake High School that he said already has about 120 students enrolled); and Dover campus schedule changes will add new tech-course choices and allow some music students to take programs five days per week.

On staffing, Goggin said the district is managing lower enrollment through planned attrition and internal reassignments; he reported 21 teachers are eligible to retire this year and at least eight more next year. He emphasized the district’s focus on maintaining class sizes, curriculum resources and implementation supports rather than immediate layoffs.

School safety measures include full-time school resource officers in each building, stop-arm cameras on buses and a threat-assessment team in every building. Goggin said the district applied for and has been awarded a $40,000 grant from Attorney General Dave Yost to buy a CenteGIC alert system (a staff-worn clicker to notify colleagues of medical concerns, altercations or events that could trigger a lockdown); he said the system will be deployed districtwide to teachers, aides and custodial staff pending implementation details.

Goggin also reviewed academic measures: Westlake received five stars on the state report card two years ago and 4.5 stars last year, a change he attributed to use of a different assessment tool and to shifts in report-card indicators (including possible changes to the early-literacy metric and pending changes to college/career readiness measures). He said the district continues to work on coherent assessment choices and literacy implementation, and is completing a new strategic plan with the Impact Group via focus groups and a live stakeholder survey.

Goggin closed by urging families to advocate at the state level for public education, reiterating the district’s operational readiness and its goal to “educate for excellence.”