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Olentangy Local School District board meeting, Sep 24, 2026

3 h 29 min · 0 public speakers

Reading and test scores ▶ 43:57

This board doesn’t post agenda times. Click a board member to jump to where they first speak; we list only members whose voice our check named. Video length 3 h 29 min.

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What happened

What happened at this meeting

Olentangy board takes up resolution to cut bond millage by a quarter mil 1:58:20

  • A district staff member said the district earned 5 stars overall on the report card for the 4th year in a row. 45:38
  • A staff member said the administrative team had brought forward a reduction of the tax rate dedicated to debt service by a quarter of a mil, and brandon lester then called for a motion to approve the resolution. 1:58:20

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Item by item (11)
  1. Opening and agenda 1:31
    • brandon lester called the September 24th, 2026 meeting of the Olentangy Board of Education to order. 1:35
    • brandon lester said there were no amendments to the agenda and asked for a motion to approve it. 2:12
  2. Board president and association reports 3:10
    • brandon lester said a resolution before the board would lower the bond millage another quarter of a percent and that the district had reduced debt service millage by 1.75 mills over the past 4 years. 3:52
    • dr. libby wallick said a conference in Washington, D.C., focused on E-rate funding and an initiative called 40 by 40 on federal funding of IDEA services. 5:51
    • dr. libby wallick said 3.9 million students were identified with these needs in 1975 and 8.3 million are predicted for 2027. 9:48
  3. Transportation department update 12:32
    • A staff member said the department has 163 drivers, operates roughly 1,026 runs each day and serves a little over 12,000 students daily. 12:52
    • The staff member said the district starts every day 20 drivers down and that diesel cost $5.79 a gallon at the last fill-up, compared with $2.53 a year earlier. 14:52
    • The staff member said 318 students were deemed impractical to transport to 28 non-Olentangy buildings and that serving them would require an estimated 24 additional routes and 28 additional drivers. 20:36
  4. State school report card 43:57
    • A staff member said the district earned 5 stars overall for the 4th year in a row and was one of 61 districts in the state to do so. 45:49
    • The staff member said all 27 district schools received 4 stars or better. 46:38
    • The staff member said the district had a weighted graduation rate of 98.3% and achieved 72.2% on the college, career, workforce and military readiness measure. 1:08:17
  5. Staff report and strategic plan discussion 1:14:48
    • A district staff member said the district has 30 National Merit semifinalists who will be recognized at the October 22nd board meeting. 1:17:16
    • brandon lester said the current strategic plan was developed 10 years ago and that an overview was requested so the board could consider how to proceed. 1:25:04
    • One board member said the board should stay focused on what the community wants to know. 1:27:59
  6. Superintendent action items preview 1:51:01
    • A district staff member described a recommended purchase of 3 Ford trucks and 1 Ford Transit cargo van for $172,752. 1:51:50
    • The staff member said the next board meeting is October 8th at 6:30. 1:53:30
  7. Treasurer's report 1:54:04
    • A staff member said the district's maintenance of effort for special education is $75.2 million and its federal IDEA-B allotment is about $5 million. 1:54:23
    • brandon lester asked whether the federal amount should be about $30 million at 40%, and the staff member said that was correct. 1:56:25
    • The staff member said the debt service rate has trended down from 8.72 mills to 5.75 mills since 2011. 1:58:44
  8. Bond millage reduction resolution 2:12:22
    • brandon lester called for a motion to approve a resolution to reduce the bond millage for tax year 2026, collect 2027, by a quarter mil. 2:12:22
  9. Treasurer consent items 2:12:56
    • A staff member listed five items for a single vote, including minutes, the August financials, the permanent appropriation resolution for 2027 and donations. 2:12:59
  10. Superintendent consent items 2:14:01
    • A staff member recommended approval of items A through J, including human resource items, a substitute and program salary schedule, students for graduation, student clubs, declaring transportation impractical for students and the vehicle purchase. 2:14:04
  11. Executive session and adjournment 2:15:25
    • brandon lester called for a motion to enter executive session to prepare for negotiations with public employees and to consider information on economic development assistance. 2:16:01
    • brandon lester said the board would not return to take any substantive action. 2:16:38
    • brandon lester said the board returned from executive session at 9:57 PM and called for a motion to adjourn. 3:28:32

Written by software from the meeting's transcript and checked sentence by sentence against it.

What was said

What board members said, in order

It's really a vital part of our mission. I think that unfunded mandates are nothing new in education, unfortunately. But it is something that's really important. We don't get a whole lot from the federal government relative to our budget, just a couple percentage points.Brandon Lester · board president9:14
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Other meetings of this board

Video: posted by the district as “Olentangy Schools, Board of Education 9.24.26”