Tuesday, February 15th, 2022
Tri Star governing structure to get a review
By William Kincaid
CELINA - Area superintendents have asked Tri Star director Tim Buschur to explore establishing a different Tri Star governing structure that would offer them more say in decision making, Celina school board members learned at their meeting Monday.
Superintendents also want to look into maintaining the Tri Star compact while establishing Tri Star as its own entity, Buschur said. Such a move would redirect local and state funds directly to Tri Star.
Those funds currently funnel through Celina City Schools, which serves as its fiscal agent, Buschur said.
The proposed arrangement under consideration could lead to greater financial transparency and ensure Tri Star's longterm viability, he added.
Buschur told Celina school board members at the request of superintendents a public policy firm has been contracted to look into the matter and confer with state legislators.
However, at this early juncture, Buschur said he's not even sure if such a change in structure would be permitted by state law. For instance, for the Tri Star complex project to proceed some years back, state legislation had to first be enacted before compact officials could seek a levy.
Superintendents of area school districts representing Tri Star want a governing structure that would ensure equal representation of all compact members and decision making at Tri Star, Bushcur said.
Furthermore, such a change would alleviate the administrative burden that falls on one school district - Celina City Schools, he said.
Some school officials feel in certain instances they don't have input because the Celina school board, the fiscal agent, has final say on most decisions, Buschur explained.
For instance, many years ago, before he was with Tri Star, a decision was made to end the adult education program without the input of other school districts or the director at the time, Buschur said.
Also, while in the past Tri Star buildings were owned by the Coldwater, Celina and St. Marys school districts, all districts have a stake in the new consolidated Tri Star building, Buschur said.
Area voters in Aug. 2016 approved a 15-year, 0.95-mill bond levy to construct a consolidated Tri Star Career Compact facility near Wright State University-Lake Campus. Voters within the New Bremen, New Knoxville, Minster, Marion Local, St. Marys, Celina, Coldwater, St. Henry and Fort Recovery school districts were able to vote on the levy.
Board member Carl Huber said he's concerned that a change in governing structure would result in Tri Star turning into a career center separated from the school districts.
That scenario would not happen, Buschur stressed, pointing to promises made during the Tri Star 2.0 levy campaign.
"We promised that in our building project and that's not going to happen," Buschur said.
Buschur emphasizedthat officials are early in the exploration stage and said he would provide more updates in the coming months.
Celina school board meets next at 6 p.m. March 14 in the high school lecture hall.
