Coventry Local School District has been placed in a state of fiscal emergency by the State of Ohio due to its failure to submit an acceptable financial recovery plan.
According to the Ohio Auditor of State's office, the district has been under fiscal watch for more than 18 years.
It was placed in fiscal watch on May 15, 1997 for having an operating deficit of $895,000. At that time the school also had an unencumbered cash balance in the general fund of negative $306,000 and had failed to pass a levy that would raise enough revenue to fix the other problems.
After the district was placed on a fiscal watch, administrators were required to submit and update a financial recovery plan each year. But the board of education passed a resolution on Oct. 26, saying they were unable to adopt a plan that would eliminate the deficit for 2016.
Now, the Auditor of the State's office will assume all or part of the powers of the board of education and conduct a full financial analysis of the district.
A new financial plan must be developed within 120 days of its first meeting to address the financial crisis.
