Pupil loss threatens Youngstown school district

By Harold Gwin

The city district received $1.5M less from the state this year because it has 400 fewer students.

YOUNGSTOWN — The city school district treasurer said the loss of 400 pupils this school year will make it extremely difficult for the district to get out of fiscal emergency.

Youngstown has been running a general fund deficit for the past two years, resulting in the state placing it under fiscal emergency and appointing a fiscal oversight commission to control district spending.

Treasurer William Johnson has told the school board’s Finance Committee that the state’s refiguring of subsidy funds in December, based on the latest enrollment figures, proved to be costly for Youngstown.

Revenues dropped and expenses increased, he said, noting the 400-pupil drop from last year to 7,253 children this year resulted in a subsidy decline of about $1.5 million.

On the expenditure side, the district learned that the cost of purchased services to cover Youngstown children going to charter, open enrollment and state voucher schools jumped by $2 million.

With those losses, the district won’t make it out of fiscal emergency, Johnson said.

Recent, earlier fiscal projections after the passage of a 9.5-mill, four-year tax levy showed Youngstown emerging from bankruptcy in fiscal year 2012.

Compounding the problem is an announcement by Gov. Ted Strickland that the state’s budget woes could result in a cut of $800 per child in subsidy payments in 2009-10.

“It would be devastating,” Johnson said, noting that the resulting revenue loss to Youngstown would be more than $5 million.

Committee member Anthony Catale said the district needs to prepare for a worst case scenario as soon as possible.

Committee member Lock P. Beachum Sr. told Johnson he wants a report by January showing where the district stands and what it needs to do to remain operational in light of the financial picture.

“What do we need to do in additional cuts?” he asked.

“We’ve been working on that,” said Superintendent Wendy Webb, adding that she expects to have a plan to present to the board in January.

She has indicated in the past that she is looking at $2.9 million in spending cuts in fiscal 2009-10.

The district has trimmed about $26 million in spending over the past two years, eliminating about 450 jobs in the process.

gwin@vindy.com