On behalf of the Board of Education, I wish to thank our Westerville City School District community for its support of Issue #59 during Tuesday’s election.
Approval of Issue #59 brings an extended period of financial stability to our schools. It goes without saying, but having your fiscal operations in order is critical for any school district. It can be a challenge, though, because school districts often find themselves operating under a deficit-spending model.
We’ve been deliberate in our fiscal approach and have worked diligently the past few years to avoid spending more than we receive in revenue. Voters’ approval of Issue #59 makes us feel as though our community has noticed and approves of these efforts.
Our Board of Education has played a critical role in stabilizing our finances. Changes to long-held management practices, refinancing eligible debts and pushing the administration to fund several new academic initiatives through grants and other alternative revenue sources have yielded positive financial results for our district. The bottom line is that we’ve avoided deficit spending since 2012 and pledge to continue our efforts to keep annual expenditures below revenues as long as possible.
With our finances in order, we can now refocus our energies toward the rigor of our academic program. We must double down on our efforts to challenge students academically while expanding and strengthening the opportunities that shape them into young adults who are college- and career-ready.
You have given us our roadmap for success. Through our strategic planning process, you’ve told us what you value for students. Though state report card results will continue to be thrust into the spotlight, we promise do our best to strike a balance between meeting state mandates and providing the curriculum and instruction you desire at the local level. And, we will hold ourselves accountable by publishing a Quality Profile that illustrates how well we are meeting community expectations and where we may be missing the mark.
A slogan we’ve become quite fond of recently is, “Westerville City Schools: Where You Belong.” Though this slogan expresses our desire to make schools a place where everyone is welcome and feels a sense of belonging, there’s a parallel to Tuesday’s Issue #59 results. In this regard, the slogan also reflects a community embracing its public schools, and for that we are grateful.