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Youngstown schools considers cuts
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
The city school district needs to trim between $1.5 million and $2 million from next year’s budget to keep the district in the black through the next few years.
“I’m still meeting with executive staff,” said Superintendent Connie Hathorn. “We’re meeting weekly to look at it.”
The district administration has given itself until Feb. 15 to develop recommendations of suggested cuts. No decisions have been made.
Those recommendations will be made to the school board and the Youngstown City Schools Academic Distress Commission. The commission has ultimate authority regarding district functions related to academics, curriculum and some personnel matters.
That panel also has budget authority if it chooses to exercise it.
“We’re looking at everything — personnel, programs, health insurance,” Hathorn said.
Treasurer James Reinhard said that if the district cuts $1.5 million, that will take it through fiscal year 2018. With $2 million in cuts, it will be sustained into FY 2019.
“There’s the possibility that things will change between now and 2018,” he said. “It’s a moving target. But we want to at least have a plan in place. It’s possible we could see an increase in state funding and we will not have to make any cuts.”
He acknowledged that possibility seems unlikely.
This year’s general-fund budget is nearly $114 million, which amounts to a 4.8 percent increase compared with last year’s expenditures. That was possible because of an increase in state funding.
The district has identified three goals that cover new spending: improve academic performance for middle school students, improve academic performance for special-education students and prepare students for state tests that use online assessment.
Those align with the Academic Recovery Plan adopted by the commission and approved by the state superintendent. They add about $2.9 million to the general-fund budget.
Besides the new goals, though, there are other things that have been in place in the district for a long time that add to costs and may not align with the district’s priorities that are outlined in the recovery plan, Reinhard said.
Those include operating the administration building on West Wood Street and the high cost of health insurance, which is estimated at more than $13 million this year for employees paid out of the general fund. Health insurance, however, is covered in employee collective-bargaining agreements and must be negotiated.