Schools recovery plan has high cost

By HAROLD GWIN

gwin@vindy.com

BOARDMAN

The proposed academic recovery plan for the Youngstown city schools comes with a big price tag.

As outlined by a consultant who drafted the plan, implementation could run nearly $4 million a year.

Tom Reed of the Educational Service Center of Central Ohio presented a cost breakdown Monday for the state Academic Distress Commission charged with drafting the recovery plan. He stressed that the numbers are only estimates at this point.

The single largest big-ticket item is the hiring of an estimated 20 additional teachers this fall to bring the student-teacher ratio to a 15-1 level in kindergarten and first grade, a cost expected to exceed $1.6 million annually.

The district also may have to hire teachers to handle double literacy classes and building literacy coaches beginning this fall for all seven elementary schools at a cost totaling another $500,000.

Reed said that number could be lower if Youngstown has staff to fill some of those positions. The classes would be for children a full grade level behind in reading and writing.

Anthony Catale, city school board president, was at the commission meeting but declined to comment on the availability of funds to implement the plan.

Reed said he has consulted with the state fiscal oversight commission controlling Youngstown school district finances and has been assured that funds — primarily from federal stimulus and Title I grants — are available. Some reassignment of those financial resources is expected.

The total is less than 2 percent of the district’s budget, he said.

“This is the start of long and arduous work,” Reed told the distress commission, which passed a resolution at the meeting signifying its intent to formally adopt the plan as presented at its meeting next Monday. That gives commission members another week to review the document, said Debra Mettee, commission chairman.

The plan must be submitted to Deborah Delisle, state superintendent of public instruction, by the end of this month. She will have 30 days to approve it or make suggestions for changes.

Most of the plan will be implemented immediately. Some sections will be implemented in the second year.

There’s no time limit on the plan, and the distress commission is directed by state law to stay in place until Youngstown reaches “continuous improvement” on its annual state local report card. The district currently is rated in ”academic emergency,” the lowest state rating. “Continuous improvement” is two levels above that.

Reed said the plan is designed so that adaptations can be made as needed.