Youngstown district faces deficit in 2007

The treasurer said five-year forecast figures are misleading.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Youngstown City School District may receive 76 percent of its budget from the state, but its treasurer said that doesn't mean it is without funding difficulties.
Treasurer Carolyn Funk said the district's five-year budget forecast leaves the schools ending fiscal year 2007 with a $9.4 million deficit.
"The Youngstown city schools is primarily a state-supported school district," Funk said. "There's virtually no growth in local property value."
In fact, she added, the schools expect to receive $1 million less in property tax dollars this year than last.
Lagging behind
State funding does not proportionately keep up with need, Funk said, as the state Legislature continues to require teachers to provide more services without giving districts more money to pay for those services or increase wages.
Although Youngstown's five-year forecast shows expected budget surpluses at the end of the first four years, Funk said the figures are misleading.
"The five-year forecast has done us a great deal of damage," she said. "Every agency thinks we have the deep pockets."
However, each year, the schools will still be forced to spend more than they take in, Funk explained. By the end of fiscal year 2007, that will have caught up to the district to the tune of the $9.4 million deficit.
Exceeding revenue
"The question is not what the [annual] fund balances are, the question is how much a district has exceeded its revenue in terms of expenditures year by year," she said. "In an ideal forecast, you'd end every year with the exact amount you started the year."
A year-end balance is not "money left over at the end of the year," she continued. "It's money left to start the beginning of next year."
As a side note, Funk pointed out that the good news in the five-year forecast is that the Youngstown city schools will finish paying off all its debt in fiscal year 2005.