Gerber: State ESC cuts will up expenses

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

The Western Buckeye Educational Service Center Governing Board met earlier this week, with Superintendent Brian Gerber again voicing his displeasure with ESC cuts being proposed by Ohio Governor John Kasich’s administration.

While Gerber said he was currently preparing a financial plan in response to the governor’s budget proposal, he also warned that the budget cuts outlined for ESCs will cost area school districts additional money in the next two years.

“We have been proactively preparing for Governor Kasich’s funding cuts since his first biennial budget in 2012 and 2013,” an angry and frustrated Gerber said, adding, “We knew at that time that the Kasich Administration was not a friend to public education and not a friend to the educational service centers that serve public schools…”

The WBESC superintendent noted that cuts to educational service centers would only hurt public schools, since ESCS drive down costs for those schools by allowing them to share personnel and services.

“When Kasich was campaigning to be our governor, he continually preached about sharing services and personnel in order to drive down operating costs across the state,” Gerber told his board. “By cutting ESC funding, he is going to cost our partner schools more money.”

The WBESC superintendent noted as an example, the fact that the local educational service center was receiving $46,836 to pay for bus driver physicals, bus driver inservices, licensure cost, truancy services, reduction of alternative school cost and fingerprinting costs for Antwerp, Wayne Trace, Paulding, Crestview, Lincolnview and Van Wert school districts.

“According to the Kasich plan, those dollars were to ‘flow back’ to those school districts,” Gerber said, but noted that, with the exception of Van Wert City Schools, all of those districts are slated to receive no funding increases under the Kasich biennial budget plan.

“Therefore, it is now going to cost those school districts more money because they now have to pay for those services because the ESC no longer gets that funding…,” he said. “Those school districts always counted on us to pay the bill; now they have to pay the bill with zero percent increases.”

Gerber noted that the WBESC already operates lean and efficiently, adding that the local educational service center sold its Van Wert building and moved into offices in the Thomas Edison Early Childhood building to reduce operating costs and save money. He also noted that the WBESC has also absorbed a financial position, eliminated an office position and three paraprofessional positions, while reducing days for administrative personnel and giving zero percent salary increases.

“This proactive response will allow Western Buckeye ESC to continue to serve our partner schools without increasing their cost for personnel services,” Gerber said.

The WBESC superintendent was also frustrated with the inability to communicate concerns to the governor about his budget cost-cutting initiatives.

“When he is questioned about these things, he responds with anger and sarcasm, so it becomes difficult to communicate financial concerns to a governor who responds in negative tones when you say something he doesn’t agree with,” Gerber told his board.

The WBESC superintendent said the governor’s biennial budget for fiscal years 2014 and 2015 is currently in hearings in the Ohio House of Representatives, with the proposed budget scheduled to go to Senate hearings in April or May. The proposed budget will then go to conference committee and is slated for passage in June.

In other action, the WBESC Governing Board:

• Approved intermittent leave for Pam Zartman, due to knee replacement surgery, effective March 5 through the end of the school year.
• Approved the Thomas Edison Early Childhood calendar as presented.
• Approved submission of the Family & Children First Council Fiscal Year 2014 grant.

The board will next meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 10, in the Paulding ESC office.