Youngstown school district to get independent review

Everything will be on the table when the state Financial Planning and Supervision Commission begins its management of the Youngstown School District's operations, including the performance of Superintendent Wendy Webb and the budget.
Such scrutiny of a district that is in fiscal emergency and academic turmoil is a good thing. Members of the board of education and the administration should not only welcome the commission with open arms, but they should encourage the state panel to study every aspect of the school district. There must be no sacred cows.
The rejection of the 9.5-mill levy earlier this month delivered a clear message from the voters in the district: We aren't buying the doomsday scenarios put forth by board members, administrators and others associated with the city schools.
Such public distrust can only be overcome by an independent, top-to-bottom review of the urban school system.
The state-mandated commission was pressed into service after Ohio Auditor Betty Montgomery declared the Youngstown school district to be in fiscal emergency. The declaration came as no surprise after the voters rejected the levy. The system faced a $2 million budget deficit in the 2005-06 school year that ended June 30, and is anticipating an $8 million deficit this school year.
The emergency designation reflects the state auditor's opinion that the budget recovery plan submitted to her by the district will not erase the red ink.
There will be a lot of pain as the Financial Planning and Supervision Commission performs its statutory duties, but that's what voters bargained for when they rejected the operating levy. A reduction in the number of employees is inevitable, given that payroll costs take up more than 80 percent of the operating budget.
Academic progress
But residents can rest assured that the state commission will not do anything to undermine the academic progress being made in the school district. Several months ago, a member of the board of education attempted to scare voters into approving the levy by warning that a state takeover of the finances would result in cutting "for the sake of cutting" with no regard for academic programs and the district's academic improvements.
Patty Murray's comments brought this reaction from an official of the Department of Education: "It is not about cutting for the sake of cutting. The committee (fiscal commission) would be using historical data to make sound policy decisions to ultimately improve the academic performance and fiscal integrity of the school district."
To support his contention, the official pointed to eight school districts that are in fiscal emergency, including Struthers and East Liverpool, and said they have not suffered academically as a result of state oversight.
We are encouraged by those comments and urge local officials to view the state's involvement as an opportunity to get the school district's house in order. It could be the beginning of a new, successful era.