YMHA director backs school levy

The school district is
looking for support for a tax levy on the Nov. 6
ballot.

By HAROLD GWIN

VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Eugenia Atkinson said she doesn’t think the community truly realizes the city school district’s situation.

Proper funding of the city school district is important to maintain academic achievements realized in recent years, the executive director of the Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority said.

Atkinson was one of about a dozen community leaders attending a meeting arranged by the district administration Tuesday to solicit support for a 9.5-mill, five-year tax levy on the Nov. 6 ballot.

“I’m going to do whatever I can to support the levy and help get it passed,” Atkins said after the meeting. “I think we have to get the word out,” she said, suggesting that community groups, churches and other organizations need to be informed of the district’s need.

Youngstown is under a state fiscal emergency designation and ran a $15 million general-fund deficit last fiscal year.

The school board has made $17 million in spending cuts over the last two fiscal years and intends to make more, but that won’t be enough to overcome the deficit.

The 9.5-mill levy, which is expected to generate about $5 million in new revenue annually, is needed for a financial recovery, district officials have said.

First in series of meetings

Dr. Wendy Webb, superintendent, said Tuesday’s meeting was the first in a series of small settings in which the school district will seek levy support of the business and professional community.

The district can’t cut its way to solvency and needs additional revenue, she said.

The district presented statistics that show Youngstown has made significant academic strides over the past six years, based on the state’s annual local report card, which showed a performance index improvement from 53.6 to 72.4 this year, on a scale of zero to 120.

Performance index is an average of every pupil’s test scores in a rating scale of 0 to 120.

Government and service agencies and the community at large get a positive return on the value of students graduating from the Youngstown schools, said Greg Cvetkovic, executive director of D&E Counseling Center.

High school graduates put less of a demand on service agencies, including law enforcement, than do high school dropouts, he said, proposing that the school district take its request for levy support to those agencies.

They need to understand that it’s not just the school’s problem, it is everyone’s problem, Cvetkovic said, adding that he will help arrange some of those meetings.

Joe Verostko, a mechanical engineer from Hubbard whose office is in Youngstown, said he believes he can be involved in the pro-levy campaign.

The numbers and statistics presented by the district show a definite need to pass a levy, he said.

gwin@vindy.com