Welcome to the Berne Union Local School District Website.  Wow! What a school year!  I remember growing up that adults were always telling me that as you get older time seems to go by more and more quickly.  Based on that I’m feeling pretty old! It seems like only yesterday that we opened our doors for a new school year…..and now spring is right around the corner.  We have been blessed with moderate weather through the winter months (so far) and our younger children are enjoying the fact that they can enjoy recess outside more often than normal.

It is no secret that public schools are faced with increasingly limited resources.  The Berne Union Local School District has been operating in a deficit spending cycle for several years and has been using up the small reserve balance each of those years.  Our five year financial forecast shows that if revenues and expenditures remain the same, we will have a deficit of $3,958,890 by Fiscal Year 2016.  This despite the board’s best efforts to cut cost by sharing a Superintendent and Treasurer, reducing classroom expenditures and the teachers agreeing to a four year freeze in base salary.  Obviously more needs to be done to bring the budget to a balanced state.  The goal for the district is to maintain a high quality of educational opportunities for the students while being good stewards of the taxpayers funding for our schools.

• Restructuring – Starting with the 2012-2013 school year we will be eliminating one Principal’s position and implementing a PreK-6 Elementary and 7-12 High School grade structure in the district.  Mr. Starr is retiring and Mr. House will serve as High School Principal.  Mr. Templin will continue serving as Principal of the Elementary.  The administration has been working since January to develop a seamless system that will maintain appropriate class sizes, and class offerings, to assure that quality educational opportunities for our children are maintained.  As we work through issues of transportation, bell schedules and staffing, we will communicate any changes to parents prior to the new school year starting.




• The district is offering our certified employees a One Year Early Retirement Incentive Program that will allow us to replace those retiring under the plan with new teachers at entry level salaries creating a significant savings to the district. 




• The administration is analyzing our course offerings and support staff against requirements of the State of Ohio to make sure that we are operating as efficiently and effectively as possible. 

Conservative estimates of the district savings for reducing one Principal, implementing an Early Retirement Incentive Program, and making necessary course and staffing changes are approximately $425,000 in the second year, depending on how many eligible staff members participate in the Early Retirement Incentive Plan.  As we move through the process there may be additional savings that are identified.

I want to also inform the community that the Berne Union Local School District will be offering a Breakfast Program for our students next year.  State and Federal Guidelines require all school districts with over 30% free/reduced lunch count to provide a breakfast program.  More details on this program will be made available as we work with our food service provider to develop a quality and cost effective way to provide a nourishing start to the school day for our students.