Talawanda’s attorney fees more than doubled over past 2 fiscal years

The Talawanda School District’s attorney fees nearly doubled between Fiscal Year 2023 and FY25, according to records obtained by the Oxford Free Press through a public records request.

School District Treasurer Shaunna Tafelski said at a Talawanda Board of Education meeting in October, a Homestead Tax Exemption expansion approved by Butler County Commissioners in the 2025 tax year resulted in a $242,000 reduction in collections for the school district to be split between Fiscal Years 2026 and FY2027.

During a board meeting in January, District Superintendent Ed Theroux gave a presentation describing the school district’s savings and spending from the past six years, as well as upcoming costs, in light of funding concerns related to the legislative changes in tax collections for the school district.

Theroux said there have been various cost increases for the school district, which he attributed to two-tiered busing, hiring additional staff and building upgrades.

Theroux also pointed out  the school district’s attorney expenses have increased significantly over the past couple of years.

According to data provided by Tafelski, attorney expenses for the school district saw a nearly 50% increase between FY23 and FY24, from about $78,577 to about $117,355. Between FY24 and FY25, attorney fees increased by more than 80%, to about $211,944 – an overall increase of nearly 170% since FY23.

Information collected by the Oxford Free Press through a public records request shows payments made to Bricker Graydon LLP – the only attorneys the school district uses for which expenses are tracked, according to an email from the Talawanda Public Records Office – increased the most in services related to Title IX, covering individual board members and public records requests.

Theroux said during the January meeting there has been an increase in public records requests requiring attorney reactions, to which the district responded by posting an open position for fulfilling public records’ requests.

In FY23 and FY24, the school district paid Bricker Graydon LLP $2,384 and $2,963, respectively, for services related to public records requests. In FY25, the district paid $29,769 – a more than 900% increase. This was the largest difference in expenses by far.

In FY25, between the months of July 2024 and June 2025, the school district received 251 public records requests for individual records. FY25 was the first year the school district began recording the exact number of records requested by individuals.

Theroux told the Oxford Free Press in an email, public records requests have become more “sophisticated” and “detailed” recently, with many of them requiring redactions to protect confidential information. He said, overall, the district has seen an increase in requests which are asking for confidential or protected information or information containing several documents that require a lengthy processing time – all of which is costing the school district additional dollars.

In FY23 and FY24, the school district paid Bricker Graydon LLP $17,256 and $16,545, respectively, for services related to legal services for Title IX and students in general. In FY25, this number jumped to $77,918 – nearly a 371% increase.

In FY24, the school district paid Bricker Graydon LLP $13,699 to cover legal services involving its board members, paying nothing in FY23, but expenses jumped to $39,070 in FY25 – a 185% increase. Tafelski said any time a board member contacted the school district’s attorney for assistance, the expense was classified under its “board” expense label on its attorney fees. 

The board also saw a jump in its HR/personnel legal expenses between FY23 and FY24, from $18,289 to $49,005.

Among these expenses, the board also has legal expenses related to special education, lawsuits and professional development among other uses.

When the Oxford Free Press reached out to Theroux for comment about the changes in expenses and specifics about the payments, Theroux responded he cannot comment on attorney/client communications or usage.

Still, he said in an email, the increase in attorney expenses is "extremely notable and concerning” for the school district, noting “This is not normal for Talawanda and most public schools.” 

Making public records requests is the legal right of residents in a school district, but Theroux said many of the requests being made are an “attempt to catch the district” in a mistake or show misspending, and the law does not provide school districts funding for these requests.