EARLY COLLEGE Schools to split program funding

The effort is intended to help underachieving kids excel.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State University trustees are considering having the fiscal operation of a joint YSU and city school district program monitored.
YSU trustees recently discussed the option, which, if implemented, would affect the Youngstown Early College High School.
The early college, located in YSU's Fedor Hall, is aimed at city school district youngsters in ninth through 12th grade who have the potential to go to college but are underachieving in a normal school setting.
Through the program, they will finish high school and earn 60 college credits, about half as many as needed for a bachelor's degree.
Though supportive of YSU's fiscal involvement with the program, trustees have said they want to ensure that the special school's costs don't drain other YSU funding sources.
That concern prompted trustees' recent discussion of having YSU's internal audit firm, Packer Thomas of Youngstown, monitor the school's spending.
No firm decision has been made on the issue, so far.
YSU trustees will be meeting over the next several weeks, and the issue could be revisited, Ron Cole, YSU spokesman, said Wednesday.
Splitting the cost
To pay for its share of the program's cost, YSU has earmarked state money provided to YSU to help make a college education more accessible.
The university will pay 49 percent of the tuition costs for early college students when they take courses at YSU, with the school district picking up the remainder.
The university has put about $50,000 into remodeling part of Fedor Hall for the early college, and YSU will provide janitorial, parking and security services.
The early college begins its school year Aug. 13 with about 75 students. The number of learners will grow over the next several years to about 400.
The city school district has allotted $200,000 annually toward the early college's operation.
Helping get the program rolling is a $105,000 start-up grant from the Cincinnati-based Knowledge Works Foundation, which is affiliated with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The early college is one of six such schools in Ohio and one of 60 in the United States.