Chardon Treasurer Presents the District’s Five-Year Forecast
Chardon Board of Education Regular Meeting – February 17, 2026
Meeting Details: The Regular Meeting began at 5:30 pm at the Chardon Transportation and Business Affairs Center at 400 Washington Street in Chardon. Here is the link to the available Meeting Agendas and Minutes. Click on the meetings tab on the right to access the Agendas and Minutes. The board meeting video is available here. Agenda items are listed according to the time that they were discussed on the video.
0:25 Min ROLL CALL AND WELCOME - Meeting was called to order. It was stated that this meeting is being held in accordance with Section 3313.15 of the Ohio Revised Code.
Attendance: Board President Karen Blankenship, Vice President Andrea Clark, and members Gordon Landies and Ashish Galhotra.
Absent: James Midyette
Staff Attendance: Superintendent Dr. Michael Hanlon and Treasurer Deb Armbruster.
1:58 Min Adoption of the Agenda - Approved.
The Board Presiding Officer and student leaders, 2nd grade Park Elementary student Mackenzie Messenger and 4th grade Chardon Middle School student Maddie Messenger, led the meeting in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Mission Statement - Read by Dr. Hanlon.
4:14 Min. Pursuant to R.C. 3313.48, as outlined in the attachment, the 2027-2028 calendar (due to revisions) was presented for a second public hearing with intent to recommend adoption at the regular Board of Education meeting on March 16, 2026. An opportunity for public comment is included as a part of this agenda item with the same provisions governing public participation as for agenda items.
As of January 26, 2026, the instructional days and hours reflected in the proposed calendar are indicated below. Modifications to instructional hours may occur prior to the 2027-28 school year, but not less than the hours required by statute.
Elementary School
Total Student Days: 181 days
Length of School Day: 6.33 hours (9:20 AM – 3:40 PM)
Actual Instructional Hours/Day: 5.55 hours
Annual Total Instructional Hours (projected): 976.80
Middle School
Total Student Days: 181 days
Length of School Day: (7:40 AM – 2:40 PM)
Actual Instructional Hours/Day: 5.82 hours (grades 4-6)
Annual Total Instructional Hours (projected): 1,024.32
Actual Instructional Hours/Day: 6.20 hours (grade 7)
Annual Total Instructional Hours (projected): 1,001.20
High School
Total Student Days: 181 days
Length of School Day: 6.91 hours (7:45 AM – 2:40 PM)
Actual Instructional Hours/Day: 6.15 hours
Annual Total Instructional Hours (projected): 1,082.40
Starting Dates: As indicated in attachment
Ending Dates: As indicated in attachment
There were no questions or comments from the Board at this time.
4:57 Min. Hearing of the Public - Agenda Items Only - No speaker requests.
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Shalyn Swick and Kristen Sironen, teachers and representatives for the Chardon Education Association, addressed the Board regarding a proposal to push the start of the school back to Labor Day or later. A survey of CEA members reveals that 70% of members prefer the earlier start day. A significant majority of the members believe that the additional time before testing is necessary. Members wishing for the later start date reflected concerns such as building temperatures and other family-related concerns.
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Terra Rikes expressed her support for a later start date at Chardon Local Schools. She said she was concerned about the heat in the schools during the latter days in August and has had to keep her children home for some of these days in the past.
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Stephanie Thompson, a parent with students at Munson Elementary, expressed her concern about the current kindergarten classes which have 27 students per classroom. Ms. Thompson would like to see the district add a first grade teacher.
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Parents Eric Pavlick and Jenny Pavlick each spoke individually about a circulating petition seeking to change the start of the school year to after Labor Day. Mrs. Pavlick advised that parents and teachers speak of classroom temperatures that reach into the 90s in the August heat.
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Another parent expressed her belief that parents and the community feel as if their concerns about the start date are not being heard by the district.
21:04 Min. Consent Agenda - The board considered eight items on the consent agenda, including the Minutes from the Regular Meeting of January 26, 2026. All approved. All of these items 4.1-4.8, and associated documents/contracts can be found here, then selecting the meeting tab, date, agenda and number 4 on the agenda. Highlights from the consent agenda include but are NOT limited to:
23:15 Min. Chardon High School Student Liaison Report and slide presentation by Walter Sweet and TJ Adair.
23:54 Min. Superintendent Report and Recommendations - Items and associated documents for 6.1-6.5 can be found here, select meetings, date, and number 6 on the agenda. All items, recommendations, and contracts were approved unless noted otherwise. Highlights from the Superintendent’s Report and Recommendations include but are NOT limited to:
33:30 Min. Treasurer/Chief Financial Officer’s Report and Recommendations - Associated documents for 7.1-7.5 can be found here, then select meetings, date, and number 7 on the agenda. All approved unless otherwise noted. Some highlights of the presentation include but are NOT limited to:
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January Financial Summary Presentation by Deb Armbruster
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42:40 Min. Topper FAQs on pages 14-15: Ms. Armbruster noted that this page(s) is new to her report and encouraged the Board members to, in the future, bring questions that they might hear out in the community to be answered here for the purposes of transparency. For this meeting, she addressed some generally anticipated questions about budgets, budget planning, budget reviews, forecasts etc. here. On slide 14 there are also links to relevant websites noted below
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44:08 Min. Ms. Armbruster opened the Ohio Checkbook page and explained to Board members the purpose of this page.
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44:40 Min. Ms. Armbruster opened the Ohio Auditor of State page and explained its purpose to the Board and noted that the Chardon Local School District has had five years of award-winning audits.
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Ms. Armbruster opened the CLSD Treasurer site and noted that it contains links to the sites noted above and downloads for 2025 forecasts and 2025 monthly financial summaries.
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Ms. Armbruster explained the difference between a school district income (SDIT) tax and a property tax. She noted that CSLD does not receive a SDIT.
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47:22 Discussion: Mr. Galhotra commented that he believes that the Board should do proactive research to “map out” district income options in the case that property taxes are changed/eliminated. Dr. Hanlon explained that in light of the legislature's constraints on school levies, schools must generally utilize property taxes or SDIT’s. Mr. Landis commented that politicians will most likely move first to a higher sales tax rather than an income tax if property tax is eliminated, which he suspects will be unlikely. Further discussion occurred about the possible percentages of a replacement income tax. Ms. Clark suggested that we could “speculate all day long” but really need to contact our legislature for some kind of plan. Reviewer Note: At present there are several bills in the Ohio House and Senate that would further restrict property tax. There is a petition circulating in Ohio for the November ballot that would eliminate all property taxes. See information here and below in this report.
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56:05 Min. Ms. Armbruster gave a brief summary of the Records Commission Meeting which was held on February 9, 2026 at 1:30 pm:
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Reviewed updates to the RC-2 for updated retentions suggested by the Auditor of State
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Approved the Minutes from the June 23, 2025 meeting
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Adjourned
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AI January Financial Summary A quick “snapshot” AI presentation of January financials for CLSD.
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7.2 Donations
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7.3 Equipment Disposal
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7.4 Fiscal Year 2026 Final Appropriations Measure
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59:05 Min. February Five-Year Forecast Presentation and February 2026 Forecast Report
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Important to remember: HB 96 - A three-year forecast (current year, plus three forecasted) is required for state submission. Chardon Local Schools is preparing a five-year forecast and will submit a three-year forecast to the state.
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Slide five compares the October 2025 Forecast versus the February 2026 Forecast
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Slide eight reveals the basic flatlining of revenues due to state changes versus the rising expenditures.
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Slide 10 compares February 2026 revenue estimates with October 2025 revenue estimates that include tax reduction adjustments due to HB335 and HB15. Ms. Armbruster stated that HB 335 shrinks school revenue growth from inside millage and that HB 15 reduces utility tax rates, which reduces revenue collection by an even larger amount than HB 335.
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Slide 11-14: Discussion of district revenue sources.
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Slide 16: February 2026 expenditures compared to October 2025 expenditures.
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Slide 17-21: Expenditure overview
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Slide 22: Assumptions
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Slide 23: Taxpayer savings of approximately $1.8 million over four years through the elimination of school fees.
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Slide 24: Financial Forecast summary - The cash balance will begin to deteriorate until it reaches a negative cash balance of approximately $5.2 million in FY 2030. Also on this page are links to the Financial forecast report that Ms. Armbruster will submit to the state.
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1:18.00 Min. Slide 25: Balanced Reform- The five school districts of Geauga County met and discussed property tax reform. Historically, residents paid 47% of school property taxes, whereas today residents pay nearly 70%. Observer Note: The sound quality of the video deteriorates here for several minutes.
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Slide 26: Chardon Levy Life indicator
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Slide 27: Reminders
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1:21.45 Min. Five-Year AI Forecast Video A quick review of the full report above.
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Assumptions-Five-Year Forecast for Chardon Local Schools, February 2026. Ms. Armbruster states that this report contains the details behind every chart and line item in the forecast.
Observer Note: Mr. Landes initiated some discussion with a question(s) about any potential levy on the ballot in 2028, but didn’t speak into the mic so this Observer was not able to catch some of the details of his question and further response. Dr. Hanlon responded that a lot was dependent on the legislature, property tax reform, and other “moving parts.”
1:28.03 Min. Board of Education Reports and Recommendations. All approved unless otherwise noted. Observer Note: There is a slide presentation created for the various BOE reports to be found here, but not all presenters regularly utilize their slide sections in the presentation each month.
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Chardon Schools Foundation (slide 2) - Mr. Landies encouraged applications to the Chardon Foundation. Donors give substantial amounts of money to the foundation, and it releases applications for grants three times a year. Applications can be submitted by both teachers and the public with ideas to benefit the district. Funds are also available for many things beyond curriculum.
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Legislative Liaison (no slides) - Mrs. Clark mentioned newly introduced Ohio HB 671 which seeks to withhold in escrow certain state funding from schools participating in the lawsuit against the EdChoice Voucher program. Ms. Clark described this bill as retributive in nature. Reviewer Note: Chardon School District is one of the participants. See information here.
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HB 673 - expands the state's owner-occupancy property tax credit to all property tax levies, regardless of when they were passed.
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SB 19 - mandates regarding math intervention and improving math proficiency.
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See 8.2 in the Agenda for a more exhaustive listing of all legislation that impacts education.
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Ohio School Board Association (OSBA) Legislation Tracker Observer Note: This item and the one below are usually noted in the Agenda but not discussed at meetings.
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OSBA Facts in a Flash
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Auburn Career Center Report (no slides) - Ms. Clark took a tour of the Auburn Career Center (ACC) with Superintendent Dr. Glavan. Auburn Career Center is partnering with Lake College to offer CCP (College Credit Plus) classes on the ACC Campus starting with three classes next year. There is much excitement about the possibilities of a career tech in middle school expansion and Ms. Clark briefly mentioned the expansion of many other offerings at the Center.
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1:39.05 Min. Student, Staff and Liaison Report (with slides beginning on page 9) - James Midyette was absent from the meeting, so Ms. Armbruster created a student liaison report video for the Board to watch instead.
1:40.05 Min. New Business - No new business.
1:40.18 Min. Hearing of the Public on Non-Agenda Items - There were no speaker requests.
1:40.30 Min. Pursuant to Board of Education Policy 0167.2, the Chardon Board of Education entered into Executive Session. Motion was made, seconded, and approved that the Board of Education of the Chardon Local School District adjourn to Executive Session by Board for the purpose(s) of:
(1) To consider employment, or compensation of an employee.
The time of adjournment to Executive Session was not noted by the Board, and Mrs. Blankenship announced that there would be no action taken after Executive Session.
Board agendas and minutes are available online.
The next meeting is the Regular Meeting on March 16, 2026.
Virtual Observer: Jacqueline Berger
Editor: Rooney Moy
Reviewer: Sarah McGlone
Date submitted: March 3, 2026
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