BELOIT — The West Branch School District will scale back its open enrollment program.

Superintendent Micki Egli announced in the school board’s June meeting that it is her recommendation to accept no new open enrollment cases for grades K-8 and to significantly limit the number of new cases for the high school beginning with the 2024-2025 school year. Egli said that she recommended the district approve the bulk of the new case requests the district had received for the 2023-2024 school year.

Egli also recommended that those open enrollment students who have already been accepted to enroll in the district should be allowed to continue attending school within the district moving forward. However, Egli noted that should such a student leave the district to attend another school, they would not be able to return later.

Treasurer Adam Fisher explained that prior to 2021 the district received approximately $6,000 from the state per student for out-of-district students, and as a result accepting open enrollment students provided a significant and tangible benefit to the district. However, under the current funding formula, state funding is calculated by total number of students without regard to open enrollment status, eliminating that subsidization from the state for open enrollment students.

Fisher said that under the current system a district is either classified as “formula” or “guaranteed district,” with “formula” districts receiving funding based on overall student population and “guaranteed” districts receiving a set, consistent amount of state funding regardless of population. Fisher said that due to declining enrollment within the district, West Branch has been a guaranteed district for nearly 20 years. As such accepting additional students from outside the district no longer aids the district and actively increases the financial burden on the district.

“It hurts us the more students that come in, and we’re actually helping other districts. For example, and I’m not exactly sure if they’re on the guarantee, but if a Sebring student is coming here and they’re on the guarantee, they’re getting more per student because we’re educating their child, and that could be any district,” said Fisher.

The district’s semi-annual bullying report was also presented by Egli, who noted that in the second semester of the 2022-2023 school year the district had received seven reports of bullying necessitating investigation, with two confirmed cases requiring administrative action.

Egli also provided updates on the district’s master water meter and well drilling projects. Egli said that the necessary parts for the master meter were currently back ordered, and that further work would be completed on the project when they arrive. Egli also said that while the district had received one potential quote for the well project thus far, with a second pending, the district is having difficulty getting interest from companies for the project.

Additionally, several personnel and administrative items were approved.

Personnel items approved include: athletic and non-athletic supplementals for the 2023-2024 school year; the hire of Heather Gramlich and Kathryn Whaley for the 2023 Summer Training Program; the classified and certified substitute list for the 2023-2024 school year; the hire of intervention specialists Leslie Wilson and Cameron Martig, and science teachers Tina Williams and Courtney Watt for the 2023-2024 school year; and the hire of Kimberly Courtwright as a classified substitute for the 2023-2024 school year.

Administrative items approved include: Lunch and breakfast prices for the 2023-2024 school year; the tentative negotiated agreement with the West Branch Education Association effective July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2026; a contract with Board Docs through the Ohio Schools Council for fiscal year 2024 at a cost of $9,600; a settlement agreement and release with the villages of Sebring and Beloit for water services and unaccounted water usage; a contract with RW Sports Information for media and marketing services effective July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024; the purchase of two conventional 72 passenger school bus chassis and bodies through the Ohio Schools Council; and an oil and gas lease with EAP Ohio LLC for the district’s property in Knox Township.

The board of education will meet next at 6 p.m. July 20.