Essentials of School Funding & Finance - January 2026

Ryan Pendleton is the Executive Director of the Shared Services Alliance where he coordinates financial and operations support for northeast Ohio school districts through the Educational Service Centers of Northeast Ohio, Medina, and Lorain Counties.

Ryan is very active in state and federal issues concerning education and the potential impact on the students of Ohio. He is a member of the Fair School Funding Work Group, co-chairing both the Base Cost and Analysis and Support Groups.  As an inaugural member of the Work Group, Ryan made significant contributions to creating and advocating for Ohio’s new state funding formula.  His efforts contributed to the Fair School Funding Formula being included in the 2022-2023 Biennium Budget.

Ryan is a Leadership Akron Class 32 graduate and dedicated to serving the community, in particular the students across Ohio. Prior to working at North Coast Shared Service Alliance, Ryan was the CFO/Treasurer of Akron Public and Barberton City Schools and worked previously as a financial advisor.  

Ryan earned a BA in Business Administration from Malone College and an MBA from Cleveland State University.  

Elena Sanders is a Senior Financial Manager at the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce (ODEW) Office of Budget and School Funding, where she oversees the state foundation funding and other state funding programs. Prior to coming to that office, she was an Assistant Director in the Office of Federal programs. She has an Ohio Treasurer’s license and master’s degree in educational administration and supervision. Elena is the captain of the USTA 3.0 tennis team and this year the team advanced into the districts to compete in Cincinnati.

Brian currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. Brian has a quarter century of senior leadership experience in Ohio’s state education agency guiding its fiscal and grant responsibilities.

Leading Ohio’s education agency team on grant and fiscal mandates for nearly two decades, Brian guides a large team with a multi-billion dollar portfolio of fiscal oversight mandates. Those mandates encompass federal financial compliance, internal control structure, risk assessment and subrecipient monitoring for the agency.

Prior to joining the state education agency, Brian served as an Audit Supervisor with both the Auditor of State (AoS) and the Ohio Department of Development.  During his tenure with the AoS, he led the agency’s auditing responsibilities of the Department Human Services at both the state and county levels.  While with the Department of Development, he was responsible for financial/programmatic compliance audits and technical assistance to numerous cities, counties and not-for-profits.

Brian is seen as a national leader in education fiscal policy, and he has presented at both state and national level conferences on both fiscal management and auditing in the education environment. 

TJ Cusick is the Treasurer for Worthington City School District. He has been with Worthington for 17 years and worked for a regional CPA firm prior to coming to Worthington. He is responsible for the day to day operations of the District, including budgeting, payroll and investment management. He is a licensed CPA in the state of Ohio, was an elected school representative for the Ohio GFOA, and recipient of the 2016 OASBO distinguished service award for his service providing continuing education for its members. He is originally from Steubenville, Ohio, married to Stacey, with one son and a killer pug.

Leanne Ashby-Sidley is an Area Coordinator for the Department of Education & Workforce (previously Ohio Department of Education) Center for Advancing Professional Supports in the office of Field Services.  She has been with the Department for over 15 years serving the State’s Region 8 of Lake, Geauga, Ashtabula, Trumbull, Mahoning, Portage and Summit counties.  Prior to becoming an Area Coordinator Leanne was a District Treasurer for 8 years, a corporate accountant and worked in banking.  

Meghan Sullivan-Homsher joined Frontline Education on Feb. 1, 2022. She was previously with the Ohio Department of Taxation and has been a great resource to Ohio schools.  Meghan had been with the Tax Analysis Division of ODT since 2005.  Her responsibilities have included providing analysis of proposed legislation and contributing to department publications.  Meghan’s specific areas of interest include property tax, school district income tax, and state/local revenue sharing. 

Stacy Overly provides direct financial services to clients. He has over 30 years of experience serving as school district treasurer, including 25 plus years of developing financial forecasting tools, and providing instruction and training opportunities attended and used by over two hundred of Ohio’s public school treasurers. Stacy works with clients to analyze trends and review local economic data to help determine a long-term operating strategy for the organization.  He holds his Master of Business Administration and his Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from Ohio University.

Mr. Seed devotes his practice to state and local taxation through the representation of boards of education in school finance matters, including tax valuation and classification, tax incentives, tax levy issues, and general financial issues. Mr. Seed practices extensively in administrative proceedings and litigation before county boards of revision, the State of Ohio Department of Taxation, the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals, courts of common pleas, courts of appeal, and the Ohio Supreme Court in real estate tax valuation and exemption matters. 

Brad has over 26 years of experience in public finance, serving as Bond Counsel for state/local governments and nonprofit organizations and in tax-exempt leasing and stadium financings.  He is regularly called upon to address governmental and quasi-governmental councils and boards on public finance issues, including the State of Ohio, GFOA, OASBO, counties, municipalities, treasurers, trustees, and the Ohio Municipal League. He is a member of the National Association of Bond Lawyers (former Tax-Exempt Leasing Panel Chair) and the Association of Governmental Leasing & Finance (Salmon P. Chase College of Law - J.D. 1996; Xavier University - B.S.B.A. 1992).

Mr. Laskey is a Director in the Cincinnati, Ohio Municipal Finance office of RBC Capital Markets.  

Mr. Laskey has worked at RBC Capital Markets since July of 2006.  Andrew has worked with hundreds of local governmental entities throughout Ohio on debt offerings including school districts, cities, counties, townships as well as the State of Ohio.  Additionally, Andrew has presented at numerous conferences on a variety of topics related to municipal bond issues and the bond underwriting process.

Andrew currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Ohio Municipal Advisory Council, a repository of statistical information relating to Ohio municipal issuers and their securities.  Mr. Laskey formerly served on the Board of Trustees for Clovernook Center for the Blind in Cincinnati.

Mr. Laskey attended the University of Cincinnati and graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Honors-PLUS business program.  Mr. Laskey is a Registered Securities Representative, registered with the NASD and SEC 

Jeremy is a senior manager with the Ohio team of Baker Tilly Municipal Advisors. He has over 15 years of Ohio school experience, serving as treasurer/CFO and other administrative roles, as well as experience performing financial and compliance audits for government entities. During his time with both Baker Tilly and school districts, he has participated in numerous bond and note issuances.

Jeremy received his B.A. from Spring Arbor Universityin 2005 and his Masters of Business Administration from Mount Vernon NazareneUniversity in 2009.

Jeremy is also active in his community as a member ofthe board of directors for the Big Walnut Chamber of Commerce.

Kristine Blind is the CFO/Treasurer for the London City School District in Madison County. She previously held this position from August 2011 through August 2017 before leaving for the same position with Gahanna-Jefferson Local Schools.

Kristine has been involved in school finance since 1996, beginning as a support staff member in Washington County. She has held several positions throughout her career before becoming a Treasurer in 2009. As a long-time OASBO member, Kristine has participated in numerous committees and serves as a seminar director, mentor as well as frequent presenter.

Jennifer Bruns is the Chief Financial Officer of St. Henry Cons. LSD, where she has served since January 2016. Jennifer also serves as the Fiscal & Mentoring Specialist for Mercer County Educational Service Center. Jennifer began her School Finance career as the CFO of Riverside Local School District in Logan County. Prior to becoming a Treasurer/CFO, Jennifer worked for the Ohio Auditor of State. Jennifer has been a member of OASBO since 2012, has been very involved in the West Central Chapter, and currently serves on the OASBO Board of Directors as the Northwest Region Director. Jennifer also serves as the Chair of the OASBO Auditor of State Committee.