Hillsboro City Schools Board of Education OKs 2026-27 calendar, 5-year financial forecast

The Hillsboro City Schools Board of Education signed off on the upcoming school year’s district calendar and the five-year financial forecast during their Monday, Feb. 16 meeting.

The board approved the 2026-27 school calendar as presented at a public hearing in January.

Next school year will begin Wednesday, Aug. 12, with the week of Sept. 7 off for the Highland County Fair. Other days off for students include Oct. 30, the day after beggars’ night; Nov. 25-27, for the Thanksgiving holiday; Dec. 18-Jan. 1, for Christmas break; Jan. 18 and Feb. 15, for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Presidents Day, respectively; and March 26 and 29, for spring break. The last day of school is set for May 19, with graduation scheduled for May 23.

Professional development days will be held Aug. 5-6, Aug. 11, and May 20, and the following dates which will be other days off for students: Oct. 16, Dec. 18 and March 12.

“I got about two emails concerning it,” superintendent Tim Davis said of the calendar. “It was just about adding a spring break again, a weeklong, spring break in March around Easter time, and another one was concerning the open house and start date based upon the state fair. 

“The biggest thing with the spring break is when we missed a week of school for snow, there are a lot of rumblings of our kids that when they come back, they're not ready. Taking a week off in a spring break before state testing would not be beneficial for our students, with the amount that we lose when we have snow days and so forth, so we will be going with the calendar that was presented with no changes.”

On a related note, board member Tom Milbery asked how many snow days have been used by the district thus far for the 2025-26 school year.

“We have missed 11 full days,” Davis said. “We've gotten a little more snow than we traditionally have gotten, but our staff does extremely well to try to keep up, and we’ve got those days built in. I feel very confident we'll be ready for our state tests when that comes.”

Davis added in his report that since the board’s January meeting, “dealing with weather” has been the main issue facing the district.

“Our transportation and our bus drivers do an outstanding job,” Davis said. “[On Friday, Feb. 6], it's very nerve-wracking when the forecast is what it is, and we were able to get everybody home safe, and that's what we pride ourselves on, and the decisions that we make to try to get our kids in the building as much as possible, as safely as we can. I want to thank all of our employees, our drivers, for doing that. That's kind of what we've kind of been dealing with.”

Also approved Monday was the five-year forecast, which district treasurer Ben Teeters said was the “exact same” forecast approved in the fall. The treasurer also spoke about the potential impact of property tax reform bills on future finances.

“I left [the forecast] the same as what I had, even though there's rumblings of passage of different house bills and senate bills to regulate the amount of property taxes that people pay,” Teeters said. “Until they come out with a real plan of what's going to happen, I'm leaving what information that I know as of today. I'm anticipating real estate collections to continue the same, even though I know probably they are going to do something, and the state has said that if they do something, that they will hold schools harmless until least ’28, and they're going to reimburse us from the Rainy Day Fund. 

“I think it's probably going to happen like some other programs that the state has started and said we'll reimburse you for, then when they get to the end with all the schools that they’ve got a fund, they'll find out, ‘Oh, we didn't have enough money to cover you all, so we're going to reduce the amount that you get by 75 percent]’ or something like that. That's something we always run into.”

Milbery pointed out that it would affect “a third of our revenue,” and Teeters said, “Yes.

“If they stamp that out, we’ll lose $9 million,” Teeters said. 

Board member Larry Lyons also discussed the proposals in his legislative report.

“There’s a lot of discussion about how to fund the townships, county and schools,” Lyons said. “There's nothing definite, because nobody knows what's going to happen. They do know they're looking at some revisions to property tax. There's just a lot of discussion.”

Milbery asked if a sales tax could benefit the schools, and Teeters said the state would have to “designate it for to be used for public education” instead of local governments as usual.  

“Should property taxes get voted out, there would probably be a flip flop to move a significant amount of that funding to sales tax, so you're really not saving anything,” Lyons said. “You're just burdening a different group, or a different demographic, in your area.

“If [a referendum] does make the ballot, just understand that they're still going to fund public education some way, and if it comes down to sales tax, that increase might be a little more hurtful than property tax.”

In other discussion, Davis reported that “winter sports are coming to an end,” with most sports entering the postseason. 

“I can report that both boys and girls bowling were FAC [Frontier Athletic Conference] champions, along with girls basketball, so congratulations to them,” Davis said. “Swimming sectionals were Saturday. We have some people [Kamryn Asbury, Cameron Burkard, Kameron Evers, Jacob Seaman, Cooper Swope] moving on to the districts.

“It's been a very successful season, and we’re looking forward to those postseason accolades.”

In another report, board member Beverly Rhoads recapped two recent Great Oaks Board of Directors meetings. In January, the Great Oaks elected their leadership, including the reelection of JB Stamper of Wilmington as chair and Sandy Harrod of Hamilton County ESC as vice chair. Locally, Ron Friend of Fairfield Local Schools was appointed as legislative liaison. Also approved in January was a time change for their monthly meetings, as Rhoads said they will now meet half an hour earlier with committee meetings at 6 p.m. and board meetings at 7 p.m.

In February, the Great Oaks board heard an update on applications for the 2026-27 school year, with a total of 2,973 applicants districtwide — thus far — setting a new all-time record and surpassing the number of available spots. The meeting also included recognizing technology integration specialist with the Eric Scott Compassion Award and executive assistant Mary Beth Smith with the dedication of a shelter at Scarlet Oaks in honor of her 36 years of service. 

Rhoads also encouraged her fellow board members to attend the Ohio School Boards Association’s Southwest Region Spring Conference on March 5.

In other action:

• The board approved the financial reports as presented. Teeters reported a January general fund cash balance of $10,659,013; expenses of $3,077,213, up from $2,871,787 in January 2025; and revenues of $2,415,991, also up from $2,408,344.73 last year.

• The board approved the 2026-27 high school registration handbook.

“It’s that time of year to start scheduling for next year,” Davis said. “Not a whole lot has changed. We still offer a lot of CCP [College Credit Plus] courses in the district, in our in our high school, so that is awesome for our kids, to not have to leave. We are continuing to just try to expand on all of our electives and try to find things that students want to take.”

• The board approved the following individuals for the contracts and positions indicated, contingent upon a satisfactory background check and proper certification: sub certified — Katelyn Boysel, Jessica Chase, Nathan Kincaid (retroactive to Feb. 5), Jennifer Maynard, Cole Pharo, Justin Scott and Amy Williams (retro Feb. 4); sub classified — bus driver James Bush, cooks Aailyah Collett and Jessica Gipson (retro Jan. 16) and cook/secretary Haley Norman; volunteers — Laina Carter (HES/HMS), Megan Coates, Aliyah Gobel and Andrew Zink (HES), Jackie Gerald, Clarisha Hilderbrand, Kaylee Kelley Miller, Glenna Mojica, Heather Price and Amanda Robbins (all), Conner Johnston (wrestling) and Brayden Kisling and Gavin Thompson (baseball); supplementals — HS varsity softball coach Gary Breeden, MS boys track coaches Penny Carter and Ben Young, HS assistant baseball coaches Wyatt Condo and Ben Pence, HS assistant softball coaches Jason Dearmon and Bobby Thornburgh, HS varsity girls track coach Dave Dietrick, spring site managers Jason Fox and Matt Schneider, MS girls track coach Fawn Girard, second-quarter weight room supervisor Nathan Horne, open gym coordinator (male) Josh Howland, HS varsity boys track coach Bud Marsh, HS varsity baseball coach Ben Miller, HS reserve softball coach Mallory Parsons, HS assistant boys tennis coach Charlie Schneider, HS reserve baseball coach Justin Scott, open gym coordinator (female) Heather Storer and HS boys tennis coach LaRue Turner.

In separate motions, also approved were KaleyJo Myers for sub certified, retroactive to Jan. 16, with board president Bill Myers abstaining, and Scott Haines as HS assistant boys track coach, with Lyons abstaining. 

• The board accepted the resignations of paraprofessional Samantha Crawford, effective March 13; and paraprofessional Tamara Gleadle and teachers Lisa Hopkins and Beth Purtee, effective at the end of the 20255-26 contract year, due to retirement. Also approved was a revision to the previously approved effective date of resignation for teacher Kimberly Benner, from May 30 to Feb. 27, due to retirement.

• The board approved leaves of absence for cook Carrie Carey (Jan. 12-Feb. 6); teachers Jordan Clark (Jan. 26-April 17), Olivia Page (Jan. 22-Feb. 19) and Michele Williams (Feb. 4-March 18); paraprofessional Lynette Knisley (Feb. 11-24); and bus driver Mike Page (Feb. 9-March 2).

• The board approved Lillyan Bradley, Faith Brown, Haylyn Butler and Brian Howland as early graduates.

• The board approved awarding a diploma to Malachi McCord, a resident of the district who has completed the Ohio Department of Education’s requirement per House Bill 64.

• The board approved Ohio K-12 Network Subsidy transfers from four different line items, totaling $36,987.65, to the general fund.

“This is something that we usually do about every three or four years that the state reimburses us for the phone system, and we place it into this fund,” Teeters said. “I do not spend the money out of this fund. I go ahead and spend it from the general fund to cover the technology and phone system, and so then I just transfer it from this fund.”

• The board approved a resolution expressing their wishes to participate and authorize the Southwestern Ohio Educational Purchasing Council to advertise and receive bids on the board’s behalf as per the specifications submitted for the cooperative purchase of school buses.

• The board approved a resolution for continued membership in the Ohio High School Athletic Association.

• The board approved a $250 anonymous donation toward footwear for elementary students; a $10 anonymous donation toward valentine box donations for elementary students; a $40.47 donation from Dominos Pizza toward pizza for walkathon prizes for elementary students; and a $168.47 donation from the Hillsboro Fraternal Order of Eagles #1161 Ladies Auxiliary toward a high school activity mat for gym class. 

• The board approved an out-of-state field trip for FFA students to Perfect North in Lawrenceburg, Ind. for an incentive trip to go tubing, according to Davis.

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