Lifting of fiscal emergency is not an invitation to spend

The relief that greeted last week’s announcement by Ohio Auditor of State Dave Yost that the Youngstown City School District is no longer in fiscal emergency was tempered by the reality that the system could easily collapse financially if spending isn’t closely monitored.

Of major concern must be Gov. John Kasich’s proposal to remove the cap on the number of charter and community schools and to double the number of school vouchers under the EDChoice program.

The Youngstown School District, which had been in state-mandated fiscal emergency since 2006, loses more than $30 million annually to community schools and vouchers. Any expansion would result in even greater losses.

Republican Gov. Kasich’s biennium budget, which is before the Republican-controlled General Assembly, not only contains the expansion of the charter and voucher programs, but proposes cuts in funding for kindergarten through 12th grade. In Youngstown, the phase-out of the tangible property tax and the loss of $5.5 million in federal stimulus money mean pennies will have to be pinched if the district is to adhere to the five-year budget forecast that was required for the emergency to be lifted.

And then there’s the issue of the 9.5-mill property tax that was approved by voters in 2008 and will expire in 2013. Although the revenue projections in the five-year plan do not include the money generated by the property tax, it may be necessary for the school board to consider a renewal of the levy.

It is encouraging that board members are already thinking of giving taxpayers a break.

“We’re going to do everything in our power to not go back at the full 9.5 mills,” said Anthony Catale, chairman of the school board’s finance committee, at a meeting last week. “That’s my goal. It should be everyone’s.”

It appears that all those involved in the school system, from Superintendent Dr. Connie Hathorn on down, agree with Catale’s assessment of things. Taxpayers in the city cannot afford to keep paying the large tab.

Financial obligations

Treasurer William Johnson has said the district expects to pay off some other obligations in the next few years, so “There will be a couple of opportunities over the next four to five years to, I think, lower taxes and improve services.”

That is clearly the proper attitude, given the financial roller coaster the district has been on for the past several years, and the fact that it is still battling to come out state-mandated academic emergency.

Superintendent Hathorn bolstered state Auditor Yost’s announcement of the lifting of fiscal emergency with an unveiling of an academic revitalization plan that is designed to improve the state proficiency test scores, which are now at the very bottom, stop students from leaving and increase enrollment by 350 in five years. That means winning back some of the students who have left, or attracting new ones from neighboring districts.

It’s a tall order, given the reputation of the Youngstown system. But the superintendent, who has been on the job since January, is fully committed to putting the district on the road to recovery. He believes the plan he has developed will bring results.

We hope so.