Vantage bd. gets mixed financial news

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Vantage Board of Education members heard a presentation on the modernistic “Ed Gee” sculpture and also received some good and bad financial news from Treasurer Lori Davis and Superintendent Staci Kaufman during their March meeting on Thursday.

Vantage Industrial Mechanics students Dom Ardner, Jacob Blair, Aaron Contreras, Chazz Hahn, Kurt Hoersten, Michael Miracle and Scott Pohlman, as well as Connie Boley, who designed the project, and Industrial Mechanics teachers Mike Klutka and Kevin Van Oss.

Students provided an overview of the project, which was recently on display in the Ohio Statehouse, where Governor John Kasich took an interest in it.

In her report, Davis talked about the possible effects of federal sequestration on Vantage, noting that, while Pell Grants are exempt from federal cuts, other funding isn’t. The greatest impact on the school, Davis noted, would be in the area of bonds, since Vantage used a federal bond program for the recent facilities project. Because of sequestration, the building project would increase approximately $17,000 a year, adding more than $400,000 to the building’s cost over the life of the bonds, if no action is taken by Congress to end the automatic budget cuts.

Davis and Kaufman also talked about career center funding included in the governor’s Achievement Everywhere proposal, noting that, while funding was projected to increase 25 percent for career centers, the formula used for weighted funding, as it now stands, would mean a 28-percent decrease in that area.

“When you put the pieces together, we really aren’t seeing that,” Davis said of the projected funding increase for career centers.

However, Kaufman said her talks with state officials indicate there were “several misnomers in the calculations” used to determine the weighted funding amounts, and that efforts were being made to correct the calculations.

“They never intended for career centers to lose money,” the superintendent said.

On the positive side, Davis said that Vantage received its first payment from the wind turbine project in Paulding County. The treasurer noted that the payment totaled $28,861 and she feels the money should be allocated on a percentage basis to the school’s three funds, based on their tax millage share. If approved by the board, it would apportion 64 percent of wind turbine money to the General Fund, 22 percent to the Bond Fund and 14 percent to the Permanent Improvement Fund.

“That just seems fair that that’s where this money should go,” Davis told the board.

Kaufman also talked about the school’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program designation, noting that she feels the work and expense to move the certification to the platinum level is not warranted, although she added, “I don’t think we’re in danger of falling out of (the) gold (certification level).”

Also Thursday, the board:

• Employed Rylee Carlisle as an Adult Education Welding instructor.
• Appointed Vantage Director Bob Vennekotter as the district’s homeless liaison, per school policy.
• Accepted a donation of scrap steel valued at $4,760 from Crown Corporation of New Bremen for the career technical program.
• Approved overnight trips for the state BPA, FCCLA, Skills USA, and FFA competitions and for an overnight field trip to the ACTE Student Showcase in Columbus.
• Approved the following personnel contracts: Ben Winans, student services supervisor, three year; Ted Verhoff, T & I supervisor, three year; Lori Balliet, assistant treasurer, continuing; Annette Klinger, media/public relations secretary, continuing; Dave Young, maintenance supervisor, continuing; and Kristy Rogers and Deborah Eckhart, cafeteria cooks, each a two-year contract.
• Authorized a letter opposing the state voucher program expansion be sent to Governor Kasich.

The next meeting of the Vantage Board of Education will be at 5 p.m. Thursday, April 4, with the Vantage All Boards Dinner to follow at 6 that evening.