WILLIAMSBURG — A state performance audit released this week shows that the Williamsburg Local School District continues to reduce costs and claw its way out of debt.

        In April, the state placed Williamsburg in fiscal watch because the district needed to borrow $778,000 to cover operating costs for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2001. The money has to be repaid to the state in two years.

        “I think we're stable at this point,” Superintendent Thomas Durbin said. “We're not out of the woods, by any means. But as far as having to make additional cuts at this time, we don't anticipate any.”

        The Williamsburg Board of Education created a financial recovery plan, which was submitted to the Ohio Department of Education and approved by the state superintendent last year.

        That plan included reductions of 17 teaching and support staff positions, which were cut last spring. Since then, two teaching positions and 3.5 support staff positions have been restored because the district showed how it could pay for them.

        The state, however, said any further reductions should be made in nonteaching areas. Reductions made as part of the district's financial recovery plan have resulted in student-to-teacher ratios of 25-to-1, the state minimum standard.

        The district's financial troubles surfaced last year when $700,000 was inadvertently budgeted twice because of apparent miscommunication between the district and the Clermont County Auditor's Office.

        So far, the 1,000-student district has been able to offset the deficit by borrowing money and making cuts without asking voters for help.

        “We don't want to have to tell the taxpayers that we want them to correct our mistakes,” Mr. Durbin said. “What we have to do now is gain the public's trust back. We've got to show people we're working hard and we're trying to use their money wisely.”

        Despite the financial problems, he said, the district's academic performance has improved. Williamsburg gained six standards on the 2000-01 state report card, moving from “academic watch” to the “continuous improvement” category.

        “We're proud of that,” Mr. Durbin said. “We had to cut back our intervention classes and support programs because we don't have staff to do it this year, but that doesn't change our focus on the fact that we have to perform and teach kids in such a manner that they'll perform.”

        The audit identified 38 recommendations to save the district more than $187,000 each year.

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