The Cardinal School District already has plans for the use of the proceeds realized from their recent sale of the Jordak Elementary Building to Ohman Family Living. According to Superintendent Jack Cunningham, the District is incorporating the $2.2 million proceeds into the five-year capital expense plan.
“We have projects that we want but the sale of that building marks a strategic step forward for us and that allows us to reinvest in our remaining schools and enhance our educational opportunities which also better serve the needs of our students and our communities moving forward,” Cunningham told The Weekly Villager on July 22.
As The Villager previously reported, the District sold the former Jordak Elementary School Building to Ohman Family Living on June 7 for $2.2 million. Cunningham said that the proceeds from the sale can be immediately used for maintenance fees but cannot be applied to any operational costs.
He added that the District has already started to calculate how to best utilize the $2.2 million as a part of the capital expense plan, a five-year plan created by the District that is dedicated to reinvesting and assisting with facility renovations. One of the first ways that the District is putting the money to use is using part of it to cover the cost of the recent roof replacement of Cardinal High School.
“Currently, we are finishing up our last phase of a new roof on our junior/senior high building,” he noted. “This will bring that up to date and we will not have to deal with a replacement for the next 15 to 20 years.”
Cunningham said that the five-year plan is updated like a live document every fiscal year, considering the unexpected costs that are immediately thrust upon the district by unforeseen developments, such as the carbon monoxide leak at the elementary school during the 2024-25 year.
The District has recently finished several renovation projects such as the new playground at the elementary school, as well as replacing freezers at the high school.
Cunningham also said that the District has plans to upgrade the infrastructure of both the high school and elementary school, including updating the resources which the staff and students have to work with, such as installing new desks and chairs in the classrooms and purchasing new Chrome Devices.
He noted that one project that is expected to require a significant chunk of the new addition to the capital expense plan is renovating the parking lot of the high school building.
As Cunningham has learned since becoming the superintendent, the rising cost of construction projects has not gone unnoticed as the current plans for the new parking lot are expected to exceed the initial costs that were projected.
“The expense and the rate of expense and the difference over the last few years has been pretty astronomical,” he said. “Projects like that, eat up a lot of money, like roofing and parking lots. Those are things we want to make sure are in top shape for our community use and for our staff to use.”
In addition to using Jordak Building sale proceeds for capital projects, Cunningham said that it also delays the need for the district to consider putting any levies on the ballot for the immediate future.
“It is always hard to ask for new money for schools. In our community, we know property values here in Geauga County are pretty high; we know in our community, our constituents and families pay a lot of property tax,” Cunningham said. “We don’t take that lightly and we have not asked for new money in a long time.”
He acknowledged that the District had forecast putting a renewal levy on the ballot in 2027 but for the time being, the District has adequate funds to maintain the operations of the public school infrastructure.
Although the District’s fiscal future appears stable, Cunningham said that the District is aware that fiscal challenges may await it with the State of Ohio cutting public school funding for the next fiscal year.
“We are extremely worried about that as a public entity,” he said. “It seems to be an attack on public schools. It is an extreme worry for us because we are a small district, we rely heavily on school funding and state funding even though we don’t get a big piece of that. When you start talking about property tax revision and taking money from schools, it is a huge concern for us.”
