Cuyahoga Falls board hears plan to reduce costs by revising middle-school teaming and limiting open enrollment

Superintendent Dr. Salka presented a data-driven review of interdistrict open enrollment and staffing options for the Cuyahoga Falls City School District, telling the board the discussion is part of the district's state-mandated financial recovery plan. Administrators emphasized the analysis would focus on monetary values, grade-by-grade capacity and trade-offs between cutting positions by attrition versus active layoffs.

Administrators said the largest near-term savings opportunity is at the middle-school level, where a revised "teaming" model could reduce staffing needs through attrition while preserving core teaming practices. "That model alone, we're anticipating with just modifying could be up to, $500,000," an administrator said during the presentation. They added that discontinuing middle-school open enrollment could yield an additional estimated $324,000 in savings.

At the elementary level, staff flagged capacity constraints rather than large fiscal savings. The presentation showed localized kindergarten fluctuations and building-level limits: some schools (named in the presentation) approach the district's 400-student target for avoiding additional administrative cost. In staff's calculations, per-level noninstructional costs at the elementary band were described as "$27,601 at just at the elementary level," reflecting software, device amortization and other per-student allocations.

At the high-school level, presenters estimated approximately $275,000 in savings from planned attrition and scheduling changes; an additional figure (reported during the presentation) of roughly $225,611 was provided as an estimate tied to discontinuing open enrollment at that level. Presenters repeatedly cautioned that the figures are estimates that have been revised and depend on licensure, scheduling details and whether vacated positions are filled.

Board members pressed on operational details—how three-teacher pods would cover four core subjects, how teachers would be selected and how professional development would be provided to staff who teach more than one subject. Mr. Oswald and Ms. Hausman described master-schedule design, a "batch scheduler" student-assignment process and targeted professional development to help dual-licensed teachers cover additional content.

During debate, several board members urged caution about implementing cuts now. One board member said she would "rather keep open enrollment for now" and preferred showing voters a written plan that includes potential cuts if a November levy fails. Treasurer Stoyko advised that the board will see a forecast update at the next meeting and that insurance and building-sale assumptions could affect the district's multi-year outlook.

The board did not take a binding vote on open enrollment at the Feb. 11 meeting. Instead, members asked staff to return updated five-year forecasts and additional counts (including how many current open-enrolled students might be ineligible under attendance/discipline criteria) before deciding whether to restrict new open-enrollment applications.

What happens next: staff will complete the intra-district placements, provide an updated five-year forecast and present a version of the forecast that shows the district's position with and without the open-enrollment changes so the board can weigh the fiscal impact before the next vote.