Plan for schools prompts dilemma

By Harold Gwin

Superintendents favor goals, question means

YOUNGSTOWN — Local public school superintendents like Gov. Ted Strickland’s plan to fund all-day kindergarten programs, and they have no problem with his proposal to scrap the Ohio Graduation Test.

Those were just two of the governor’s pronouncements regarding education in his State of the State address last week, and area superintendents asked about the speech reacted favorably to the governor’s plans.

“I thought he did a pretty nice job,” said Richard Buchenic, Hubbard superintendent.

Dante Zambrini, Canfield superintendent, said he was pleased to see the governor has made education a priority, and Austintown’s Douglas Heuer said he believes education will get better with the governor’s and the Legislature’s continued focus.

“It all comes down to how it will be funded,” said Mark Lucas, Liberty superintendent.

Ronald Iarussi, Columbiana superintendent, applauded the governor’s “bold initiative” to address school funding, and noted that all of Strickland’s plans are designed to raise the level of education. What remains to be seen is just how those changes will be financed, Iarussi said.

The governor has been talking to business people, and the types of problem-solving and leadership skills he is pushing in his education plan are what the business community believes are needed in a sophisticated global job market, Zambrini said.

Strickland proposes to do away with the OGT and replace it with the ACT college admission test and three additional measures: end-of-course exams, a service learning project and a senior project.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Buchenic said. Passing rates for the five-part OGT have been improving but there are better methods of assessing pupil and school performance, he said.

“I think it’s pretty good,” said Lucas, pointing out that his district already requires its students to take the ACT test by the end of their junior year.

Lucas said it “will be interesting to see the fine print” on the details of the three additional assessment measures.

“A lot of that has merit,” Heuer said of the plan to drop the OGT. The OGT is a pencil and paper test that doesn’t measure a variety of skills, Heuer said.

ACT is a very good indicator of college preparedness and a senior project and end-of-course testing show a student’s knowledge of the material, he said. Senior projects have served students well in terms of helping them determine their career plans, he said.

Most schools in the area already offer full-day kindergarten programs, though the state funds only for a half-day.

The governor’s announcement that the state will require all-day kindergarten “was excellent news for us,” said Heuer.

It would mean an additional $80,000 a year for Columbiana, Iarussi said, calling the plan “a fantastic initiative.”

All of the education data point to all-day kindergarten as a good idea, Lucas said.

The governor has proposed to lessen the reliance on local tax dollars to fund K-12 education, suggesting that, instead of local taxpayers’ contributing a minimum of 23 mills of taxes to their schools, the amount be reduced to 20 mills, with the state picking up the difference.

That would mean $540,000 more in annual state aid to Columbiana, Iarussi said.

It could be a good idea, Buchenic said, wondering aloud how it will be worked out.

“Everyone has been promising to fix this [school funding] problem in Ohio for years,” he said.

Heuer said he’s not sure where the state will find the money, based on the governor’s admission that the state needs to cut $3.2 billion in spending.

Changing the local tax requirement will be an expensive undertaking for the state, he said, noting that it would mean $1.8 million more a year for Austintown alone.

None of the superintendents questioned has a problem with the governor’s plan to expand the school year by 20 days over the next decade, but several pointed out that will be another significant cost item that will involve, among other things, changes in employee contracts.

Finding the funding for the governor’s plans could be difficult, according to the Regional Chamber, which has been advocating excellence, accountability and improvement in education through its “From Steel to Scholars” program.

Angee Shaker, vice president of education and work force development, commended the governor’s proposals but said the state is facing serous economic challenges and the governor’s plans will add costs to an already tight budget.

Bold education funding reform is needed now, she said.

The region can’t sustain continued spending increases while it loses population, she said, noting that pupil enrollment in local public schools has dropped by 35 percent over the last three decades.

gwin@vindy.com