City school district should ask state to help in cutting budget
Aiming to eliminate $2 million in spending from next year’s operating budget, the superintendent of the Youngstown City School District isn’t being vague about what lies ahead for the troubled urban system.
“We’re looking at everything — personnel, programs, health insurance,” Dr. Connie Hathorn told Vindicator Reporter Denise Dick.
Hathorn is right: Everything must be on the table if the budget is to be balanced through fiscal year 2019 by slashing $2 million. If spending is cut by $1.5 million, the budget would be balanced only through fiscal year 2018.
Given that it has been just three years since the district shed the state-mandated fiscal emergency designation, Hathorn, the board of education and the Youngstown City School District Academic Distress Commission should err on the side of caution. That’s because there will be enormous pressure from special interest groups that would be affected by the cuts.
With about 80 percent of the district’s operating budget dedicated to employee wages and benefits, the major savings must come from shrinking the payroll and, invariably, reductions in health insurance.
This year, the cost of health insurance is a whopping $13 million.
While it is true that health care is a negotiated item, the academically challenged school system must deal with this issue head on. Indeed, the public sector has ridden the health-care gravy train way too long. It’s now time to not only increase the employee share of the premium — as has been done across the board in the private sector — but to lower the cost of health care coverage.
STATE’S LEADING ROLE
That’s where the state, led by the Department of Education, can be of great help.
We’ve been told by Gov. John Kasich that his administration stands ready to provide whatever guidance and assistance the school district may need. Kasich, a Republican who won re-election by a landslide in the Nov. 4 general election, has made it clear that he’s losing patience with the lack of academic progress.
Kasich has warned of drastic action by the department of education if the district’s report card from the state proficiency tests does not show marked improvement. The system is currently under state-declared academic watch.
The concerns voiced by the governor have been reiterated by Richard Ross, state superintendent of public instruction, who expressed disappointment in the lack of progress. Ross, who is familiar with the school district having served as chairman of the academic distress commission, did not hold back in assigning blame for the poor showing.
“Whether it be the school board, the administration or staff or the academic distress commission, the bottom line is they haven’t gotten the job done,” Ross said two months ago.
One of the problems has been the school board attempting to flex its muscles when state law is clear as to who has ultimate authority over the district — the academic distress commission.
Recently, the state panel, with the support of the state superintendent, rendered the school board largely inconsequential.
Thus, the success or failure of the district rests in the hands of an unelected commission created by state law.
For that reason, the governor and state board of education have a vested interest in seeing significant academic and fiscal progress.