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Hearing on Youngstown schools plan continues today
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
Testimony continues today in Franklin County Common Pleas Court on why a plan to appoint a chief executive officer to control Youngstown City Schools should be delayed.
School representatives had their initial day in court Tuesday.
Judge Jenifer French of Franklin County Common Pleas Court must decide on the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction on HB 70, the so-called Youngstown Plan that was passed in short order by the state Legislature before its summer recess, over objections from Democratic members and school officials.
The hearing stretched throughout the day, with additional testimony and proceedings scheduled at 9 a.m. today.
A trial on the issue won’t take place until next year. Absent the injunction, the legislation will take effect next month, with a new Youngstown schools CEO appointed before the end of the year.
“It’ll be hard to reverse at that point,” said Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni of Boardman, D-33rd, who testified as a witness for the plaintiffs.
Stephen Stohla, interim schools superintendent, later added, “If the school district wins and it’s overturned, I think there’s irreparable damage [without the injunction]. If you give away schools, if you fire people, how can you take them back? How do you put the toothpaste back in the tube?”
HB 70, which was passed by lawmakers and signed into law earlier this year by Gov. John Kasich, requires the creation of a new academic distress commission and the appointment of a chief executive officer to oversee the school district. The latter will have authority to replace school administrators and staff and close schools.
That process would begin Oct. 14.
The local school board, Youngstown-area lawmakers and others were not involved in the development of the legislation, which was kept under wraps until the day lawmakers approved the amendment.
The school district, teachers and school employee unions and a local resident subsequently filed suit.
“It’s just bad on every level,” state Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan of Youngstown, D-59th, who was on hand for the hearing, said of the legislation.
Plaintiffs argued the original version of the legislation dealt with the establishment of community learning centers and was widely supported in the Ohio House when it passed in May.
But the legislation was amended in June to provide a means for the takeover of long-failing school districts.
The Youngstown district is initially affected, but similarly situated schools would fall under the same law.
The legislation passed the Senate on the same day the amendments were added and signed by Kasich shortly after the Ohio House concurred on the changes.
Plaintiffs contend the bill originally “was aimed at using schools to build up not only the students of the district but the community at large,” plaintiffs argued in court filings.
“HB 70, as amended and passed, will enable the destruction of an entire school system, which has worked diligently with guidance from an academic distress commission to set the foundation for academic improvement,” the plaintiffs said in their request for the injunction.
Kasich and his administration have defended the plan, saying the district had failed for too long to deal with issues.
The governor also has said local leaders were involved in developing the legislation.
Legal counsel for the state argued in court filings the law changes were proper, calling the lawsuit “little more than a thinly disguised effort to re-argue the policy merits of HB 70, a question for the General Assembly, not this court.”
The hearing included lengthy testimony from several state lawmakers, union groups and individuals others connected to Youngstown schools.
State Rep. Denise Driehaus, D-Cincinnati, the original sponsor of the legislation, recounted the quick timing of the Youngstown amendment and the lack of details she received from the administration during a meeting a day before the changes were finalized.
She later voted against the legislation.
Schiavoni said the original version of HB 70 had two hearings in the Senate, then was amended with the Youngstown plan. The changed bill had one hearing.
Schiavoni said he asked for more time to consider the bill and allow additional public comment on the amendment.
“I had been told multiple times from multiple parties that the governor wanted this to get done the next day, which was the last day of session,” he told the court.
Brenda Kimble, school board president, said she learned of the plan from news accounts and Mahoning Valley lawmakers after the amendment came to light.
She told the court she’s concerned that current programs for the district’s 5,400 students will be dismantled, with no recourse for elected school board members.
“The first thing that hit me was, what happened to the vote of the people,” she said.
“Now ... this bill is coming into place and telling the community, telling me personally, that you don’t count.”
Tom Humphries, president and CEO of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, was pressed in testimony on the secretive nature of the development of the schools legislation, outside of the usual legislative process, and the timing of its release to the public.
Members of local group involved in the process and details of its discussions were not disclosed to the public until after the legislation passed.
The goal, Humphries said, was to improve the performance of the school district and thus position the community for better economic opportunities.
“Youngstown city school has consistently failed,” he said.
“I felt it was time that [the local group] got more engaged.”