City schools lose 1,726 students in 3 years Charters and vouchers continue to increase

By HAROLD GWIN

VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — The city schools lost nearly 500 pupils this year, but that’s not as large a drop as school officials had anticipated.

The district had expected a loss of about 600, said Dr. Wendy Webb, superintendent.

Youngstown lost 660 pupils last year.

The latest official count shows the city schools have 7,716 children enrolled this school year. That’s down 499 from last year and more than 1,700 from the 9,442 enrolled in fiscal year 2005.

The advent of charter schools, the state’s open-enrollment program and, more recently, the educational choice school voucher plan have taken a heavy toll on the city school district.

Combined, those programs have some 3,500 city school children enrolled this year, a number that has continued to grow annually, creating a severe revenue drop in the process. State subsidies follow the pupils, and those 3,500 are taking approximately $26.4 million with them. Charter schools account for $21.6 million of that amount, open enrollment takes another $3.8 million, and school vouchers account for about $1 million more.

Open enrollment allows children to move to other school districts willing to accept them, and the voucher system gives children an opportunity to move from academically troubled public schools to private schools willing to accept them.

Of the 499-pupil population drop in the city schools this year, only 242 moved to charter schools or took advantage of vouchers or open enrollment. The remainder, 257 children, just disappeared, and school officials don’t know where they went.

Youngstown’s student body has a high mobility rate, Webb said, explaining that families are moving in and out of Youngstown all the time, and the exodus has been exceeding the influx.

Those 257 school-age children have moved out of the city, but there’s no way to determine where they went, she said.

The district’s aggressive school rebuilding program, while providing state-of-the-art learning facilities, has been very disruptive to both pupils and staff, Webb said, suggesting that as one possible factor prompting parents to move their children to another school district or to a private school.

Fourteen city school buildings are being replaced, remodeled or expanded in the $192 million process.

It’s a multiyear program that has resulted in children and teachers’ being shifted from building to building as the work is done.

The fact that the loss of pupils is lower than anticipated and lower than last year may be an indication that the district is beginning to see the signs of stabilization, Webb said.

Only five more schools remain in the construction process and they will be completed over the next two years, ending the need to shift pupils and teachers to other buildings, she said.

The reduction in enrollment has dove-tailed with cuts in district personnel, although most of the staff cuts have been tied to the district’s falling into fiscal emergency based on a $15 million budget deficit last school year.

Youngstown has cut or is cutting some 420 positions across the board, Webb said. Spending has already been reduced by some $19 million and more cutbacks are coming. Webb recently outlined another $4 million in proposed reductions for the 2008-09 school year.

gwin@vindy.com