2 YSU amendments tabled in Columbus

YOUNGSTOWN — A last-minute attempt to amend Gov. Bob Taft’s “Ohio Core” education legislation could have won state legislative approval for the creation of a Mahoning Valley Community College — but the amendment didn’t make it.

State Rep. John Boccieri of New Middletown, D-61st, said he tried to offer a pair of amendments to the bill before it won final approval Tuesday. His goal was to aid Youngstown State University, Boccieri said.

Taft’s “Ohio Core” would require high school students to complete a tougher new core curriculum of liberal arts courses, particularly more science and math, to guarantee entry into Ohio’s four-year public colleges and universities.

The legislation provides an “opt-out” for students who don’t complete those requirements, saying they can still attend Youngstown State, Shawnee State or Wright State universities.

However, a Board of Regents review shows Youngstown is already getting 25 percent less than the state average per student in state funding because it has a disproportionate number of undergraduate versus graduate students, Boccieri said.

Targeting YSU as one of three state schools accepting students who haven’t completed the new core curriculum would likely increase the number of undergraduates and only make that disparity worse, he said.

That prompted him to introduce his first amendment calling for improved, appropriate funding for YSU, but the amendment was tabled, Boccieri said.

The “Ohio Core” also stresses that students in need of remedial work before entering college should get that at two-year community colleges, not state universities. The Mahoning Valley is the only metropolitan area in the state without a community college and YSU has traditionally taken on the task of providing that remediation for its students, he said.

Creating a community college here would allow YSU to focus more on advanced degrees and reduce that disparity cited in the Board of Regents report, he said, explaining why he offered a second amendment directing the Board of Regents to create the Mahoning Valley Community College and find the funding to do it.

However, that amendment also got tabled, Boccieri said.

YSU is already conducting a study on the feasibility of creating its own community college in partnership with other regional educational institutions. The university’s board of trustees voted in March to have the study done, saying they want to be ready to make a “go or no go” decision next spring.