Treasurer: Early-college program covered

By Harold Gwin

VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — The city schools’ treasurer said the district won’t have to tap its general fund to cover tuition costs for its Youngstown Early College program if the state cuts that funding in the new biennial budget.

William Johnson told the city school board’s finance committee Wednesday that grant sources could cover the school district’s share of college tuition for courses taken by YEC students at Youngstown State University.

YEC is a joint program by the Youngstown schools and YSU designed to provide early college experience for high school students who might not have an opportunity to further their education beyond high school. Admission is a selective process, and students attend for free.

The agreement that set the program up four years ago called for the school district to pick up 51 percent of college course tuition, and YSU would cover the remaining 49 percent.

However, neither body has had to put any money into tuition costs because the state has been picking up that tab through money channeled through the Ohio Board of Regents and Ohio Department of Education. It amounts to about $600,000 a year.

There are concerns that the state support may be ending.

Three biennial-budget scenarios are floating around Columbus, and at least one of them would cut all or some funding for the nine early-college programs operating in Ohio.

That has left city school and YSU officials concerned about where they would find money to cover the tuition costs, which would be about $300,000 for each entity.

“We’re working on it,” Wendy Webb, Youngstown superintendent, told the finance committee.

Johnson said the school district still has a substantial amount of unspent funds from two earlier KnowledgeWorks Foundation grants it received to implement its Small Schools program, which essentially divides each of its high schools into three smaller units.

Those funds could likely be diverted to YEC, which is a very successful small school, Johnson said, noting that the each of the grants has about $400,000 remaining.

That could mean some other related Small Schools programming might not get funded, he warned.

Meanwhile, YSU’s Finance and Facilities Committee delayed voting on a proposed $149.5 million general-fund budget for the university earlier this month because of the uncertainty over YEC funding.

Some members of that committee want details on how the university’s share of tuition costs would be covered if state funding is cut. The committee and the full board of trustees are scheduled to vote on the $149.5 million budget Friday.

YSU puts no general-fund money into the YEC program. It provides space for the school on campus, but the cost of the four YSU personnel assigned to the program has been paid by grant funds.

The city school district picks up the annual $1.2 million to $1.4 million in the cost of staff, books and other materials.

gwin@vindy.com