SCHOOLS Diversion of funding takes toll

Youngstown schools are expected to have budget problems in 2005-06.
YOUNGSTOWN -- School districts in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties will lose more than $21.5 million in funding this year to privately operated charter schools.
An analysis by the Coalition for Public Education shows that Mahoning County school districts will divert $17.1 million to charter schools this school year; Trumbull County, $3.7 million; and Columbiana County, $643,118.
CPE is an organization fighting the expansion of charter schools.
Leaders
In Mahoning County, Youngstown City Schools are leading the way with $15.7 million in payments to charter schools, followed by Boardman and Austintown schools.
In Trumbull County, Warren City Schools will pay nearly $1.4 million to charter schools this year, followed by Niles.
Salem led Columbiana school districts with $139,712 in payments.
Charters will take more than $376 million from traditional public school coffers this year alone, based on the Ohio Department of Education's annualized November payments to charter schools, the CPE said. The home school district must pay about $5,400 to the charter school for each pupil enrolling in the charter school.
Carolyn Funk, Youngstown schools treasurer, said the loss of city schools money to charter schools is actually more than what the CPE group has estimated this year.
Funk said the loss is about $16.6 million, which represents 24.4 percent of the $74 million Youngstown schools receive in state foundation funds this year.
About 2,100 pupils attend charter schools in Youngstown.
She said that Youngstown has been able to manage the losses up to now, but warns that in the 2005-06 school year, those losses will be felt.
"Operating costs are going up. Increases in utilities, gas and food will be a problem, and we'll probably be looking at program and staff cuts," Funk said.
Funk said the school district will look at other ways to remain fiscally sound, but she said that $2.5 million will have to be cut from the budget in each year of the next five years.
She agrees that a two-year moratorium on the expansion of charter schools should be implemented as proposed by CPE and state legislators, including state Rep. Ken Carano of Austintown, D-59th.
"I don't think the data currently supports the contention of charter school advocates that they can provide a greater quality of education over that being offered by public schools," Funk said.
Funk added that some charter schools are well planned and administrators truly care about education, but she said that some charter schools have been established only to make a profit.
Betty English, superintendent of Warren schools, notes that $1.6 million will come out of school revenues there and that will impact the district. Thus far, there is one charter school in the district, Summit Academy.
English said charter schools are still new in education so it's hard to tell how many of them will still be around in the coming years, even though they promote alternatives to public schools.
Other side
Supporters of charter schools oppose the proposed moritorium, saying the charter schools are public schools as well.
Stephen Ramsey, president of the Ohio Charter School Association, said the controversy over charter schools is more a political argument than a real argument.
"All of this is posturing to try and put a moratorium on the charter-school movement," Ramsey said.