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Youngstown schools' Mohip, Adair spar over legal costs
YOUNGSTOWN
A Youngstown Board of Education member said the school district, specifically CEO Krish Mohip, spends too much on legal fees for various law firms.
Fees paid to law firms in fiscal year 2017, which ended in June, were: $208,310 to Ennis Britton Co., $697,389 to Baker and Hostetler, and $70,656 to Roth, Blair, Roberts, Strasfeld and Lodge.
Roth, Blair, Roberts, Strasfeld and Lodge of Youngstown represents the board of education. The other firms were hired by Mohip.
Legal fees for the law firms combined come to nearly $1 million of the district’s $120 million budget.
Still, that figure is up from the $229,000 spent in fiscal year 2016.
That led school board member Jackie Adair to ask: “Why wasn’t this money spent in the classroom?”
Mohip said Adair is misinformed.
“The accusation that ‘money for lawyers’ is not money being spent in the classroom is completely misguided,” he said.
About $4 million was spent on professional development for teachers for their classrooms in fiscal year 2017. The total includes travel, materials, benefits, wages, the cost of training and more, according to school district administration.
Mohip’s $165,000 salary is paid by the Ohio Department of Education per House Bill 70, which enables him to lead the schools with state-appointed academic distress commission oversight.
“Why then are we local taxpayers footing this [legal] bill?” Adair said. “The state should and must reimburse our local treasury. Taxation without representation is the battle cry.”
Adair continued: “And why two law firms? I believe in prudent spending and spending where one needs to.”
District spokeswoman Denise Dick said the reason for the two law firms is simple: different duties.
Ennis Britton of Cincinnati handles school law items including evaluations, special education, student privacy and compliance.
Baker and Hostetler of Cleveland handles labor issues.
Regardless, Adair is displeased with what she thinks are mismanaged funds.
“If we get a bang for our buck, you wouldn’t hear a word from me, but none of that in my opinion has anything to do with academic improvement of the students in our schools,” she said.
Mohip, however, feels differently.
“Our students cannot receive the quality education they deserve if our staff isn’t properly vetted, licensed or trained and our teachers and administrators are not held accountable,” he said. “Last school year, many of our district vehicles couldn’t pass the minimum requirements of state inspection, making even the safe transport of students to school challenging.”
Mohip said the community should be more concerned about how the district has lost so many students – and the dollars that follow them – over the past several years because of the failures of the people who were in charge.
“The failure of this school board and school district has left thousands of families distraught and leaving the district,” he said. “Last year alone, this district lost $9 million to open enrollment and $20 million to charters because YCSD has not been a viable option. If we want to talk about dollars spent, let’s talk about something that really matters – and that’s this district paying 25 percent of the overall budget to other schools to educate our kids. This board, however, would rather discuss the 0.7 percent of our budget that goes to legal fees.”
He added: “Since my arrival, virtually everything that I have tried to do has been met with opposition from this board, including this newest tirade by a board member,” Mohip said.
He also pointed out that at the same time board members are complaining about legal fees, they are interviewing law firms that they want to represent them – at taxpayer expense – and continuing litigation to overturn House Bill 70 and oust him as the CEO.
Another such Skype interview was scheduled during Tuesday’s school board meeting.
Dick added that the city school board oversaw a district in violation of specific school laws impacting classrooms for years before Mohip’s arrival.
“For example, the district has failed to comply with federal and state law concerning special-education services, employee licensure requirements, employee background checks, transportation, employee evaluations (which caused a lawsuit), professional development and state-mandated training, including those required in order to address student health and safety,” she said.