YOUNGSTOWN State control of schools ends as fiscal crisis status is pulled

The head of the teachers union said she's in no mood to celebrate the end of state control.
By RON COLE
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- It was a particularly nasty meeting.
About 60 people showed up at the McGuffey Centre on the East Side on Nov. 22, 1996, to rant, rave and criticize what was happening in the city schools.
Most of the anger was aimed at members of a new state commission that two months earlier had taken control of the school district's finances.
Outstanding member: Then, commission member Joyce Johnson stood up.
She talked about her son at The Rayen School. She talked about her dream to be a teacher. And she talked about how she was surprised to be appointed to the commission.
"I'm not politically connected, I'm not socially connected, and I'm pretty near broke," Johnson said.
"I'm here because of the children."
The angry audience quieted, then spontaneously burst into applause.
Johnson, who died in December of leukemia at 48, and her steady focus on the children during the district's darkest financial days were to be honored today when the commission meets for the last time.
News conference: State Auditor Jim Petro released the 10,631-pupil school system from fiscal emergency at a news conference today, ending 41/2 years of state control.
The seven-member state commission disbanded, and financial control was returned to the elected school board.
"I'm sure she would be happy about it," said Johnson's husband, Larry.
State law requires that a parent serve on the state oversight commission; Johnson was appointed by the state superintendent. At the time, she was a full-time education student at Youngstown State University. Eventually, she received her degree and taught English at Warren G. Harding High School.
Effect of illness: Because of the illness, Johnson did not participate in commission activities for about the last two years.
"Her passion was the concern for the students of Youngstown," Larry Johnson said. "The passion wasn't for the commission itself, but was for trying to do things that would help the students in the Youngstown system."
"She always kept us focused on the children," said Jeff Hundt, commission chairman.
The city school district, with a $43 million debt, was the first in Ohio to be declared a fiscal emergency in September 1996. The commission has reduced the debt to $9.2 million. Last year, for the first time since 1993, the district balanced its budget without borrowing.
Commission members and board of education members current and past attended today's celebration.
"The community has gotten behind the school district and supported the changes that needed to be made," Petro said. "All of us have a level of comfort that the Youngstown city schools are stable."
Not happy: Sherri Morgan, president of the district's teachers union, didn't show up, however.
"I don't know if it's something we should be celebrating," she said Thursday.
Morgan said she would prefer that the commission remain as a watchdog of the system's finances, especially the upcoming $163.5 million project to rebuild and renovate the district's school buildings.
"I think it's a terrible idea that they're going," she said.
Petro has said that state law lists specific criteria for when a school district must be released from fiscal emergency and that the auditor's office has little discretion.