New Year does not eliminate an old problem in Youngstown

As 2014 came to a close, the academically challenged Youngstown City School District was forced to deal with another problem that was supposed to have been solved in 2011: a budget deficit.

For a district that is in state-mandated academic watch, and was the first one in Ohio to be given an academic- emergency designation, the $2 million shortfall in this year’s operating budget could not have come at a worse time.

The urban school district is under intense pressure from Republican Gov. John Kasich and the Ohio Department of Education to improve its academic performance. The emergency designation in 2010 triggered the appointment of a state-mandated distress commission to develop a recovery program.

Not surprisingly, the relationship between the commission and the board of education has deteriorated to the point of dysfunction. As a result, commission members exerted the authority given to them by state law and, in effect, rendered the elected board members inconsequential.

But with the assumption of power comes the sole responsibility for turning around the academically failing school district.

While that should end the verbal sparring, the onus is now on the unelected commission to deliver.

THE YEAR OF RECKONING

It is no exaggeration that 2015 will be the year of reckoning. The governor said as much when he met with The Vindicator’s Editorial Board in September in a bid for our endorsement.

Kasich spoke at length about the troubled Youngstown school system and revealed to us that he had asked state Rep. Sean O’Brien, a Democrat from Trumbull County, to facilitate a meeting of business and community leaders find a role they and other stakeholders can play in saving the district.

But the governor made it clear that time is running out for the system to show marked improvement in the state report card.

Kasich’s impatience was echoed by Richard Ross, state superintendent of public instruction, who berated all involved for the lack of progress.

“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, a former member of the academic distress commission, said several months ago.

As if that wasn’t enough to send shock waves through the community, the revelation that $2 million in spending cuts must be made this year if the operating budget is to be balanced through fiscal year 2019 has put the district on even thinner ice.

Superintendent Dr. Connie Hathorn was brutally honest in his appraisal of the fiscal problems. He has to be, given that the system was under state-mandated fiscal emergency for six years before it was lifted in 2011.

The district was required to submit a five- year projection showing a balanced budget in each of the years.

“We’re looking at everything — personnel, programs, health insurance,” Superintendent Hathorn said.

2015 will be the year of everything — relating to the future of the district. The prospect of a state takeover of the failing schools looms large.

We’ve used the phrase “The clock is ticking” many times to describe the situation.

Today, the alarm has sounded.