Sylvania Schools earns 4-star district rating; board approves FY26 forecast as expenses outpace revenue

District staff presented the Sylvania Schools 2024-25 state report card and a five-year financial forecast at the board meeting, reporting a districtwide four-star rating and newly scored career/college/workforce readiness data, then asking the board to approve the fiscal-year 2026 forecast.

Presenters described the report card's components and weights, noting a new career/college/workforce/military-readiness metric introduced this year. The district's overall report card was shown as four stars, 0.031 points short of a 4.5-star threshold. Achievement and progress components each received four stars; the district lost points in gap closing (from 63 to 51 percentage points), driven largely by chronic absenteeism and math progress for subgroups. Presenters said chronic absenteeism was 16.5 percent this year against a target of 16.4 percent and a longer-term goal of 5 percent by 2030.

On the new career/college/workforce/military readiness measure, staff reported that 77.4 percent of the district's 636 graduates qualified under at least one of the state's readiness pathways (examples described by staff included remediation-free ACT scores, industry credentials, college credit plus hours, AP performance and approved work-based learning). Staff said some qualifying student records had not been captured in state reporting due to local-to-state data translation issues (PowerSchool to EMIS) and that they had requested a data "watermark" from the Ohio Department of Education to clarify whether a few students left off the export could change the district's star rating.

Following the report-card presentation, the district's financial presenter reviewed House Bill 96 changes to forecast timing and presented the FY26 five-year forecast. Key figures presented by staff included projected 2026 operating revenue of about $104,000,000, projected operating expenses near $107,000,000, and a projected unrestricted fund balance of about $28,000,000 at fiscal-year end. Staff said expenses are forecast to grow about 2.45 percent annually while revenue growth is forecast at roughly 0.5 percent, and that current reserves likely would be depleted by 2029 if trends persist. Staff recommended continued efficiency work and exploration of new revenue options, including possible levy scenarios and (as a less familiar option for the district) an income tax proposal.

Board members asked technical questions about report-card data collection (PowerSchool to EMIS reporting, local deadlines and coding such as OMJ seals) and voiced appreciation for staff's work capturing career-readiness data. The board discussed timing for additional work sessions on levy and revenue options before 2029 and scheduled follow-up work-session planning.

Votes at the meeting included approval of the FY26 financial forecast (item 4.1) and several consent and contract items. The board accepted two donations (American Legion Post No. 468 for a flagpole refurbish and four stand-up desks), approved service agreements (Everly Assessment and Consulting LLC and a service agreement identified in the minutes as with "new storage schools"), approved a consent agenda of licensed substitutes, lifeguard and activity contracts, accepted personnel listings on consent (with one supplemental item pulled for separate consideration), and amended item 8.3 on supplemental positions to remove two Southview entries. The board tabled and then amended the supplemental-hire consent item to exclude those specific Southview entries; board members voted to approve the amendment.

The financial forecast approval, staff presentations on data reporting, and the vote to explore revenue options reflect a planning posture by the board in response to projected operating deficits and a possible need for additional revenue before reserves decline further.

Votes recorded in the transcript (named roll-call responses as given) are listed in the actions array below.