AUSTINTOWN SCHOOL BOARD Speak out for funds, state lawmaker says

Carano says few board members have rallied about school funding.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- State Rep. Ken Carano says school board members should be doing more to encourage state officials to address their funding problems.
"The last people we hear from are school board members," said Carano, D-59th, of Austintown. Carano is a former Austintown teacher and a member of the House Education Committee.
"Where have they been the last three years?" he said.
Carano said he'll be at tonight's Austintown school board meeting to tell board members how they can encourage the state to fix school funding problems. The meeting is at 6:30 p.m. in the board meeting room.
Top court case
The Ohio Supreme Court has held that the state's method of paying for public schools is unconstitutional. It has ruled that an over-reliance on property taxes has created disparities between so-called rich and poor public school systems.
Carano said board members should be lobbying the governor and legislators in the Republican majority to fix the school funding problems. He added that more board members also should be testifying before state legislative committees about how their districts have been affected by cuts in state funding for education.
Too often, school boards "sit there and take it" when the state cuts education funding, Carano said. He noted that he has never heard about school funding from any lobbyist for the Ohio School Boards Association, the organization that represents all Ohio boards of education.
Others who rallied
Carano also said that most of those who have attended past rallies about school funding at the Statehouse in Columbus have been school administrators and teachers, not school board members.
At a recent Austintown board meeting, board member Brad Gessner criticized Carano; state Rep. Sylvester Patton of Youngstown, D-60th; and state Sen. Bob Hagan of Youngstown, D-33rd, for doing nothing to solve school funding problems.
Gessner noted that none of the legislators has sponsored bills during the current legislative session to address the Supreme Court ruling.
Deficit looms
Austintown schools are facing a projected $1 million to $1.5 million deficit before the end of this year, and tonight the board is to consider placing either a 3.9-mill or a 5.9-mill levy on the November ballot or making other budget cuts to save money.
Carano said he was disappointed in Gessner's comments, which he called "a cheap shot." He noted that cuts to education funding can be addressed only in the state's biennial budget.
Carano added that he would like to have Gessner testify before the House Education Committee about the problems Austintown is facing because of state budget cuts.
hill@vindy.com