Youngstown’s school board should yield to state panel

The battle between the Youngstown Board of Education and the state fiscal oversight commission is a distraction that the worst school system in the state of Ohio in terms of academic performance can ill afford.

Rather than trying to take on the commission, which has rescued the system from the fiscal quicksand it was in three years ago, members of the board would do well to focus on the academic collapse. It has brought unwelcomed attention from the state.

The Youngstown City School District has been placed in academic emergency, the lowest rating under the state local report card system, thus triggering the appointment of a state Academic Distress Commission. The aim is to guide Youngstown as it devises a strategy to raise test scores.

That’s a tall order by any measure, given the myriad problems confronting the urban district. There’s enough work to keep everyone busy, even members of the school board.

Reality

There’s no reason for them to get bogged down in the awarding of a transportation support-services contract. Given that the contract involves the expenditure of money, the state fiscal oversight commission, which was appointed in November 2006 after the school district was declared by the state to be in fiscal emergency, should call the shots.

Members of the school board who are elected district-wide should spend their time examining a myriad of factors behind the low academic performance of Youngstown’s students.

The fiscal oversight commission, chaired by Roger Nehls, has proved to be a godsend. After years of being in the red, there is a good possibility that the district will end the school year in the black. But there could be trouble brewing in the 2011-12 year, which is why Nehls and his colleagues should be able to do their work without interference from the board.

Last week, the commission adopted a resolution assuming the power to approve all school district requests for proposals and bidding documents on contracts for all transportation and equipment. The resolution set a June 1, 2010, deadline by which the district must complete an analysis of the cost and capability of the system to provide its own special-education transportation. New software and employee training would be required. This in-house transportation service is recommended in a state performance audit.

The school board has balked and is proceeding with finalizing the terms of the transportation support-services contract with Community Bus Services Inc., which was the only company that met the specifications developed by the board.

Nehls has said that he will oppose the contract if it comes before the commission.

The board is talking about spending money it doesn’t have on a lawyer to challenge the commission’s expansion of its authority.

The commission wouldn’t be here if the board had managed its finances on its own. Once the district is solvent, the commission will leave. An ongoing battle will only delay that day.