Document: Anonymous donor to give $250K to fund Dublin school jobs

An anonymous donor has pledged to pay the Dublin City Schools more than $250,000 to fund three positions that were eliminated in the struggling district’s deficit reduction plan, according to a memorandum of understanding obtained by The Courier Herald through an open records request.

The agreement calls for the donor to provide $259,475.84 – in six monthly payments – to continue the following positions for the remainder of the school term: a health/PE teacher, a driver’s education teacher and an assistant principal. The memorandum of understanding, or MOU, does not specify the schools or name the employees, though all three reportedly are football coaches.

The funds’ uses are to include but are “not limited to the district’s costs for salary, salary supplements, benefits and retirement contributions.”

“Donor and the district acknowledge that the positions held would otherwise be eliminated by January 1, 2026, and that the intent of the donation is to provide sufficient funding to maintain those positions for the remainder of the school year at no cost to the district,” the MOU states.

The positions were among 51 eliminated in the first phase of cuts aimed at reducing an operating deficit currently at $7 million but projected to reach more than $13 million when the fiscal year ends in June. Some of the terminations were immediate, but others were set for January. The school board also implemented a hiring freeze.

The MOU with the anonymous donor was approved without discussion last month by the Dublin City Board of Education. Interim Superintendent Marcee Pool said lawyers assured the board the donor-funded positions were legal.

The Courier Herald asked for the document after the meeting but was not provided with a copy until last week, after filing a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

Under the agreement, the donor agrees to pay the difference if costs increase during the year, while the district agrees to refund the donor if costs decrease. It also specifies limits on the money’s use.

“Donor further acknowledges that acceptance of the donation by the district is solely for the purpose of funding the continuation of the above-named positions for the remainder of the 2025-2026 school year, and for no other purpose. Acceptance of the donation shall not be construed to provide donor with any oversight, input or authority over the operations of the district or the individuals whose positions are being funded through the donation.”

At least five teachers are suing Dublin City Schools, challenging the district’s authority to fire them, without cause, in the middle of a contract. During a hearing on one of the lawsuits, a judge called the case “unprecedented.”

“Unprecedented” also was the word used by the state to describe the district’s financial crisis. The system has had to borrow future state Quality Basic Education (QBE) Act funding – about $5 million so far – to meet payroll and other obligations for the past four months.  The district also still owes the State Health Benefit Plan about $6.6 million in past-due contributions for employee insurance after not paying into the plan for an entire fiscal year. For eight months, the school district deducted contributions from employees’ paychecks but never paid the health plan, apparently spending the money elsewhere.

State officials began looking into those overdue payments in late August and found other “operational deficiencies” that included the system not having completed an audit since 2021. 

A summary report last month from the state Department of Education blamed the district’s financial crisis on “financial mismanagement, lack of fundamental financial knowledge and processes, and a culture of excess related to programs and personnel.”

Board members have said they were unaware the school system was in such financial trouble. Pool testified in court last week that the board first learned of a deficit in January, although monthly financial reports – approved and signed by board members – show the system was operating in a deficit every month of the 2025 fiscal year.

The controversy cost two high-level staffers their jobs. Former finance director Chad McDaniel, who took the job after longtime director Christi Thublin retired in 2024, resigned in late August. Former Superintendent Fred Williams stepped down in October, taking an early retirement.

The state has since assigned a special advisor to Dublin City and hired financial consultants to help staff navigate the crisis.