Board OKs layoffs of 31 teachers

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Youngstown City Schools superintendent Dr. Wendy Webb

By Harold Gwin

Youngstown city schools administrators hope to cut $5 million in spending in 2009-10.

YOUNGSTOWN — The city school board has voted to lay off 31 teachers next school year.

The board approved the cutback lists Tuesday, saying the reductions are part of the proposed $5 million in spending cuts the district intends to implement for 2009-10, which begins July 1.

Superintendent Wendy Webb said she had anticipated between 15 and 20 teacher reductions through retirements or attrition but that only seven veterans have announced plans to leave so far.

If there are more retirements, some of those furloughed might be called back, she said.

The reductions in force approved Tuesday were done for financial reasons as well as declining enrollment. The state has estimated that Youngstown will lose some 400 children next school year to charter, voucher and open-enrollment schools, reducing the student population to about 6,800.

The school board, with guidance from a state fiscal oversight commission, has been trying to “right size” the district since the state placed Youngstown under a fiscal emergency designation in November 2006 after the district announced it was running a general-fund budget deficit.

The teacher cuts are only part of the reduction package that includes, among other things, savings to be realized by closing the old Hayes and West buildings, the elimination of five administrative posts (four central office and one assistant principal, all already approved by the school board) and the elimination of a number of classified positions that are expected to come up for a school board vote in May.

Meanwhile, William Johnson, district treasurer, told the board that the latest version of the state’s proposed biennial budget shows Youngstown getting a $1 million boost in unrestricted aid next year to a total of $52.9 million.

That’s the version coming out of the state House of Representatives, he said.

However, it shows Youngstown’s aid dropping to $51.8 million in 2010-11, Johnson said.

The version is better than Gov. Ted Strickland’s original proposal, which reflected a $1 million cut for the district next year, he said.

He cautioned that the budget bill must still go through the state Senate.

Johnson said that bill also shows that school districts will receive federal stimulus money directly from the federal government rather than have it channeled through the state.

Youngstown is scheduled to get nearly $9 million in federal Title I and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act funds.

Half the money would come in 2009-10 and the rest in 2010-11, Johnson said.

Title I funds target children from low-income households, offering various academic intervention programs such as remediation in reading and math.

IDEA money targets programs designed specifically for children with various disabilities.

gwin@vindy.com