Morning Journal/Lily Nickel The Columbiana County Educational Service Center building on Saltwell Road will be dedicated in May as the Paul A. Hood Center Of Excellence.

LISBON — The Columbiana County Educational Service Center building will be dedicated as the Paul A. Hood Center of Excellence, in honor of the late Paul Hood and the many years of his life he dedicated to the ESC.

Superintendent Anna Marie Vaughn announced the dedication to the board during its Tuesday meeting and the measure was passed unanimously. Hood worked for the ESC for 30 years until he retired in 2004, and Vaughn recalled his unwavering dedication to the center as the new building was built in 1989. The resolution states that the building was designed and created because of his persistence and creativity — which was not confined to typical business hours, according to Vaughn.

“Paul would be here on the weekends painting, doing whatever, because we were on tight budget to build this building,” Vaughn said.

The dedication will officially take place at the next board meeting on May 18. A plaque will be featured on the front of the building as a show of recognition and gratitude toward Hood and his contributions to the center.

In other business, the board approved a resolution to endorse the Fair School Funding Plan to encourage the general assembly to expedite the passage of the bill. The bill is an effort to create a fair system for funding schools based on the cost of providing a basic education for all students in Ohio. The bill was first introduced, and passed, in the Ohio House in December but it didn’t make it to the Senate.

The plan is 24 years in the making considering Ohio’s method for funding schools through the state’s schools foundation program was declared unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court in the 1997 case DeRolph v. State of Ohio. The court declared that the funding system was over-reliant on local property taxes, which unfairly affected students in impoverished areas.

Vaughn said that at one time the center was receiving $40 per student from the state, which has decreased over time to $26 per student. If passed, the new plan would provide fair and reliable funding to schools, including specific recommendations for properly funding career technology centers, educational service centers and charter and community schools.

In other business, the board approved:

— The hiring of Bethany Hendershott and Haley Blangero as Learning’s Cool After School academic leaders for next school year.

— The resignation of Cinthia Madej, speech and language consultant, effective July 31.

— The hiring of Bethany Knight, Samantha Sacconi, Betty Jo Kunselman and Billee Sevek as paraeducators for next school year.

— The resignation of paraeducators Andrea Moore, effective on April 5, and Sarah Croskey, effective immediately.

— The hiring of Julie Duke as supervisor of mental health services for the remainder of the school year.

— The consignment agreements between ESC and Amanda Smith, Alan Lee Ammon Jr., Zachary Dorn, Samantha Maughar, Chrissy King and Karen Ullom.

— The 2021 to 2022 calendars for 260 day employees.

lnickel@mojonews.com