By Amantha Garpiel
For Miami Valley Today
TIPP CITY — The Tipp City Board of Education (BOE) heard from Superintendent Aaron Moran and Treasurer David Stevens regarding staffing and finances for the district, discussed the pre-apprenticeship program with representatives from Tipp City Academy and reviewed drafts of the upcoming school year schedules.
During the May 6 work session, Moran and Stevens fulfilled the board’s previous request for further information on staffing and an updated five-year forecast for the district.
The presentation comes at the request of the board during the April 23 discussion of reducing the number of non-teaching positions in the district.
Moran began by presenting statistics of class sizes in both the high school and elementary schools. Currently, the high school has approximately 64% of classrooms at less than 20 students and has teachers filling their schedules with study halls when the district employs a study hall monitor, according to Moran.
Also included were what class sizes would look like in grades Kindergarten through fifth if the number of teachers per grade were reduced from eight to seven.
In Kindergarten, first and third grades, reducing the number of teachers to seven keeps class sizes at 22, 23 and 23.14 students, respectively, per teacher.
Following Moran, Stevens presented an updated five-year forecast for the district.
According to Stevens, at the end of the current school year the district will be in a deficit with their expenditures – which is why Moran has been looking for solutions.
Another concern Stevens raised is that Tipp City’s tax valuation increased, which may mean the district will receive less funding from the state, expecting the district to receive more funds from the community.
“I believe that through proper financial practice, we can make our money last longer to where we do not have to go for new money for operating,” said Stevens.
He noted the district’s biggest expenses are salary and benefits, but they have looked at cutting the supplies expenditures by 5% in each building to provide some savings. Along with decreasing supplies expenditures, he noted that once Nevin Coppock is closed and demolished, the district will save on utilities and property expenses.
Next the board invited representatives from Tipp City Academy to present their pre-apprenticeship plan and different options for students.
The program operates within Tippecanoe High School with an alternative to attend Tipp City Academy.
Students participating in the program can remain at THS and select AP or College Credit Plus (CCP) classes that align with their chosen pathway and use a half-day system to acquire workplace experience in their chosen field.
Currently, the program partners with Sinclair for the AP and CCP courses and has five career clusters for students to choose from; architecture and construction, IT, manufacturing, law enforcement and public safety and hospitality.
They are working to expand the program with three new career clusters with Sinclair – finance, business administration and government – and create a partnership with Edison to offer agriculture and healthcare.
The alternative option Tipp City Academy offers through an application process includes a half-day of online courses through Apex with additional curriculum such as WorkKeys to teach students how to create a resume, portfolio, etc. The second half of the day is used for students to get their workplace experience.
Lastly, the board discussed the drafts of the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school year calendars.
The calendars still have more review to undergo, but so far the calendar provides start and end dates of the school years, professional development days, late arrival days for grades 6-12 and Smart Start days at the beginning of each school year.
The writer is a regular contributor to Miami Valley Today.
