Nordonia Hills board presents plan of roughly $1.5 million in savings, including staffing reductions

Mister Wright, the district superintendent, told the Nordonia Hills School District Board on March 18 that a month‑long review with department heads and principals produced roughly $1.5 million in cost reductions. He said the work began after a February resolution that directed him and board member Mister Kiffer to identify at least $1,000,000 in savings for the next school year.

"When we started talking about it, we had to make strategic decisions," Wright said, adding the district’s priority is to protect a "high quality educational program" while stretching every dollar.

Administrators described the savings in three categories: immediate appropriation reductions (about $548,719.35 that will appear as a decrease of appropriations on the agenda), reductions to the 2024–25 budget (about $414,000), and staffing savings through attrition, non‑replacement or reductions in force (about $585,000). The presenters calculated those categories together to reach roughly $1.5 million to $1.6 million in total adjustments.

Wright emphasized nonpersonnel cuts were examined first. "Seventy‑five percent of our expenditures are personnel," he said, noting purchase services and building budgets were examined before recommending personnel changes. He said reductions would include smaller line‑item eliminations, cutbacks in contract and travel expenses, tighter professional development spending (favoring in‑district training rather than out‑of‑state conferences), and more efficient use of existing equipment.

As a substantive personnel proposal, the superintendent recommended a change to the district’s practice of layoffs. Rather than infrequent group layoffs, he proposed annual reviews that could lead to targeted reductions or non‑replacements based on actual course requests and enrollment. He said one example is the family and consumer science program at the high school: current course requests permit consolidation from two teachers to one, and he recommended eliminating the recently added second position while noting that teacher has requested a transfer.

Wright also recommended not replacing some paraprofessionals and student‑supervisor positions where feasible and said the district would examine positions hired through purchase services for necessity on a year‑to‑year basis. He told the board those personnel actions amount to a request to reduce nine staff positions overall.

Treasury/business staff framed the immediate appropriation reduction item as a formal recommendation for board action. Speaker 5 summarized the appropriation decrease figure and said the item will be listed for the board’s vote as a decrease in appropriations.

Board members thanked staff for the collaborative effort, and the superintendent said more detailed materials and the recorded work session are available for public review. The board scheduled routine votes on consent items and appropriation adjustments during the meeting; the superintendent said broader revenue work would continue alongside annual budget‑cut reviews.

The board will consider formal adoption of appropriation reductions and personnel changes in subsequent agenda votes and follow the district’s standard public notice process for any layoffs or reductions in force.