YOUNGSTOWN Charter schools, open enrollment threaten funds

Ohio districts will lose a projected $250 million to charter schools this year.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown School District stands to lose $12 million to community or charter schools this academic year and an additional $918,000 to other districts through open-enrollment policies.
The figures -- projected in recent Ohio Department of Education finance reports -- represent nearly 1,700 pupils who have chosen charter schools and roughly 180 more who've transferred to nearby districts, with most going to Lowellville.
Among charter schools, Eagle Heights Academy has accepted the largest number, with 892 Youngstown pupils. Youngstown Community School has accepted 290. An additional 187 have gone to Legacy Academy for Leaders and the Arts, 143 have chosen the Life Skills Center of Youngstown, and 133 attend Summit Academy. Seven other schools have drawn fewer than 100 pupils.
Those children are drawn from the district's 11,344 pupils, and they represent an increase that has climbed steadily over the previous five years.
Last year, charter schools earned $10.4 million of Youngstown's funding dollars and other districts earned $899,000 of Youngstown's open-enrollment dollars.
That compares with $2.9 million transferred to charter schools and $620,000 lost through open enrollment in 1998-99.
Based on monthly figures
Carolyn Funk, city schools treasurer, said the charter school number is based on the number of pupils enrolled in those schools on a monthly basis and could change by year's end. She suspects it will get higher. Charter schools, she said, are doing "fiscal damage" to the city district.
"We're not getting the money, and they're taking the money the state does not send to us," she said. "But right now, if they all closed down, I don't know where we'd put all the kids. ... We'd have to do some serious realigning."
Further, Funk said, the size of schools and additions as part of the district's $182 million facilities improvement project is based on the current number of pupils attending district schools. With the state School Facilities Commission funding 80 percent of the project, state officials make the call on size and appropriations and they look at charter school pupils "as if they're gone and never coming back," Funk added.
The Youngstown district is not alone. Across the state, the amount of funds transferred to charter schools has jumped by nearly 23 times.
Statewide projections
DOE projections show that, across the state, districts will lose $250 million to community schools, with the lion's share -- $224 million -- being pulled from city districts.
Among city districts, an additional $18.3 million will be lost through open enrollment, primarily to local districts.
Those figures compare with 1998-1999 figures that show $11 million being transferred to charter schools across the state and city districts losing another $11 million through open enrollment.
Both open enrollment and charter schools were created to give pupils and parents more choice in education.
State law first allowed charter schools in 1997. The following year, several opened and the number has grown over the past six years. Funding for pupils in charter schools leaves their home district and follows them to the charter school.
Open enrollment is a different program through which pupils can opt to attend another school district. Districts with open enrollment can accept pupils from neighboring districts or from any district in Ohio; pupils must apply. Funding for the pupils leaves the youngster's home school and goes to the open district.
Youngstown, in DOE report cards issued in August, was given an "academic watch" rating, one step above the lowest score on the five-level scale. It had spent previous years at the bottom rung.
, in "academic emergency."
Of the three Youngstown charter schools that received rankings this year, one rated higher than the district.
Youngstown Community School earned a "continuous improvement" rating, up one notch from the city school district. Both Eagle Heights Academy and Summit Academy were rated in "academic emergency."
Rankings are based on state-mandated proficiency test scores and attendance and graduation rates, where applicable. Other local community schools either did not receive a rating or are not required to submit data because they have been in operation for less than two years.
As far as pupils who left the district through open enrollment, many moved to a district outperforming Youngstown by three ratings levels.
The Lowellville district outperformed all schools in the Columbiana-Mahoning-Trumbull county area, earning an "academic excellence" rating and the highest scores on report card data.