Youngstown schools system still facing fiscal challenges

Any good news pertaining to the Youngstown City School District deserves to be acknowledged, thus the headline in Sunday’s Vindicator, “City schools out of the red.” The story was based on district Treasurer William Johnson’s analysis of this fiscal year’s budget, which shows that on June 30 there will be a $3.95 million balance in the operating fund. That’s $550,000 more than Johnson had projected five months ago.

But, underlying the good news is a reality that will guide the administration and the school board: By the 2012-13 fiscal year, the district’s budget will again be dripping red ink unless further spending cuts are made.

Indeed, the balance projected for this year includes $3 million borrowed from the state last June. In all, the state has loaned the system $28.4 million to help balance its last three budgets. By next fiscal year, the final $1.5 million still owed will be repaid to the state.

After that, the district is home free, right? Not at all.

There is the significant matter of the 9.5-mill bond levy approved by voters in 2008 that expires in 2012. The tax generates $4.8 million, but the chairman of the school board’s finance committee, Lock P. Beachum Sr., has publicly stated several times that he and his colleagues are not interested in placing another levy before the voters.

That means Superintendent Wendy Webb and her staff must come up with spending cuts beyond the $32 million imposed over the past three years. That reduction has resulted in 520 jobs being eliminated.

State commission

Of course, all budgetary decisions must have the approval of the State Financial Planning and Supervision Commission that was appointed in 2006 after the district was declared to be in fiscal emergency.

The commission is requiring the district to develop a five-year spending plan that shows the budget to be balanced each year.

That’s a major challenge considering the many pressures on the urban school system.

Indeed, the fact that Youngstown is also in academic emergency — a State Academic Distress Commission has begun work on an academic recovery plan — complicates the financial picture.

Whatever plan is adopted to lift the system out of the academic cellar — it is the worst performing district in the state of Ohio — will carry a price tag. Programs to improve the proficiency test scores, decrease the drop out rate, improve attendance and deal with the economic and social realities that confront many of the students will cost money.

The chairman of the state fiscal oversight commission, Roger Nehls, has said that the school board should consider placing another levy on the ballot to fill the revenue hole that will be created when the 9.5-mill tax expires.

But given the continuing economic downturn in this region, voter support for any taxes cannot be counted on.

Therefore, it is incumbent upon the administration to do what Beachum has asked: Spell out what needs to be cut in the budget to enable the district to operate without the revenue from the property tax levy.

These are crucial days for the embattled Youngstown City School District. Fiscally and academically the system is at a crossroads. The decisions made by the board and the special commission will have far-reaching consequences.