State recommends denial of petitions to leave Youngstown schools

A state Department of Education hearing referee has recommended that two petitions seeking to remove Coitsville Township from the Youngstown City School District be denied.

A group calling itself Concerned Citizens for Quality Education filed the petitions last spring, asking that part of Coitsville be moved into the Hubbard school district and part into the Lowellville school district.

The state hearing officer said the change would cost the Youngstown schools about $750,000 in annual revenues, creating a hardship for the district which is trying to recover from state-declared fiscal emergency.

The recommendation now goes before the state Board of Education which could consider the case in January.

Read more in Saturday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com