The President's Corner

This month I am continuing my series titled Civics 101. The hope is to provide you with useful information about your local, state, and federal governments. Last month I covered the municipal or city governments of Parma, Parma Heights, and Seven Hills. This month I will focus on school district government, focusing on the Parma City School District.

One of the most important things to understand about public schools in Ohio is that they are separate governmental entities. In other words, your city council and mayor have no legal authority over the schools. Instead, each of the 614 school districts in Ohio have an elected Board of Education which is authorized to set policy for their respective school district. The Parma City School District (PCSD) Board of Education consists of Cynthia Bratz, Amanda Karpus, Jack Krise, Jr., Mark Ruda, and Steven Vaughn. They are each elected by the voters of Parma, Parma Heights, and Seven Hills to four-year terms.

The role of a school board member is sometimes misunderstood. According to the Ohio’ School Boards Association, “The board is a policymaking body and members are the chief advisors to the superintendent on community attitudes. Board members do not manage the day-to-day operations of a school district; they see to it that the system is managed well by professional administrators.” They do not hire or evaluate teachers or discipline students, for instance.

The board of education does hire the superintendent, as well as the treasurer who are currently Dr. Charles Smialek and Sean Nuccio is the PCSD. The board works closely with these educational leaders to set short and long-range plans for the school district, including ensuring the financial health of the district. Like everyone who works for the school district, the ultimate goals of the Board are to maximize student well-being and academic growth.

The Parma Board of Education typically meets on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month at 6:00 pm. However, school board members spend hundreds of hours preparing for those meetings, attending school and community events, taking part in seminars and training sessions, reading and analyzing reams of reports, among a multitude of other duties throughout the year.

While funding for your city government comes primarily from income taxes, school districts receive the lion’s share of their revenue from property taxes. In fact, the PCSD receives 71% of its funding from local property taxes, while 25% comes from the State of Ohio. The Parma City Schools are on sound financial footing, showing positive revenue through June, 2025. The district recently received a perfect audit from the Ohio Auditor of State. As a result, the PCSD was awarded the state’s Four-Star Rating – the state of Ohio’s highest achievement in financial responsibility and open and transparent government.

As homeowners know, counties in Ohio recently reappraised property values, as they do every three years. In most cases property values increased throughout the state, including in our communities. It is important to note that in 1976 the state passed House Bill 920 to protect property owners from higher property values increasing their taxes. H.B. 920 requires that when property values increase, the amount of money going to the schools remains essentially the same, as voted property tax levy monies are frozen. As a result, school districts must place levies on the ballot occasionally so that they can continue to provide adequate services to the students they serve, due to rising costs, as well as state and federal unfunded or partially-funded mandates.

To learn more about the PCSD visit their website at https://www.parmacityschools.org/Page/2603. Best wishes for a safe and healthy February. 

Sean Brennan

Parma City Council President Sean Brennan

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Volume 14, Issue 2, Posted 7:59 AM, 02.01.2022