CENTRAL STATE UNIVERSITY School to file complaint over proposed cutbacks

The state was supposed to keep supporting the historically black school.
WILBERFORCE, Ohio (AP) -- Central State University officials plan to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights over a proposed cut in state funding for the historically black school.
They claim the proposed $1.6 million cut in funding for the 2006-7 school year violates an agreement that settled a federal discrimination complaint 22 years ago.
Central State's board of trustees instructed President John Garland on Thursday to advise the federal agency that the funding cut jeopardizes the ability of Central State to continue its mission.
The U.S. Education Department's civil rights office decided in 1981 that Ohio had violated federal civil rights laws in its funding and treatment of Central State.
Discriminated
It concluded that the Ohio officials' decision to build and enhance Wright State University 11 miles away, among other actions, discriminated against Central State's students and faculty.
In 1998, the education department closed its active investigation, based in part on assurances from then-Gov. George Voinovich and other state officials that the state would continue to rebuild and renew Central State.
The Ohio Board of Regents suggested a possible cut in Central State's supplemental funding after state budget officials, facing reduced tax collections, requested all state agencies to submit a second budget that assumed flat funding.
Central State and Shawnee State University in Portsmouth receive special supplemental state funding that goes beyond the per-student allocation to all state universities because of their smaller size and the populations they serve -- black students at Central State, Appalachian students at Shawnee.
Some legislators and state officials would like to wean the two schools from the supplements.
The proposed 15 percent cut to Central State's supplement would cost the university in Greene County about $800,000 a year in 2006 and 2007.
The school's annual budget is about $30 million.
Central State has an enrollment of 1,820.