YOUNGSTOWN — Supporters of local control in school operations are hoping members of the Ohio House and Senate conference committee retain language in Senate Bill 165 that provides pathways for Youngstown and two other school districts to move from under control of academic distress commissions.

East Cleveland, Lorain and Youngstown would, under the proposed road map, be able to begin moving from under state control.

But it won’t happen right away, and the districts will have to meet benchmarks.

First, the language must get through the conference committee without being changed, and then not be removed from the state’s biannual budget by Gov. Mike DeWine through a line-item veto.

The legislation would allow the school districts to come out from under a system that gave power to the state-appointed chief executive officers and academic distress commissions that now run them.

AMENDMENT

Senate Bill 165 originally was written in an effort to remove the Lorain district from state control.

But Sen. Teresa Fedor, D-Toledo, introduced an amendment, that, if approved, also would remove East Cleveland and Youngstown school districts from such oversight.

Fedor has been an opponent of House Bill 70, the so-called “Youngstown Plan,” which she said was altered in 2015 from a bill designed to create wraparound services for school districts to one that took control from districts that — while under local control — had received failing grades on the state report card for at least three consecutive years.

“This system has been proven to be a failure,” Fedor said.

These three local school boards can no longer make decisions about the direction of their districts.

“We have to change directions,” Fedor continued. “The bottom line is the ADCs did not work to improve academic achievement in these districts.”

Five years now have been “wasted,” she said. “There was no buy-in by the communities where these ADCs were placed … We have to research the best practices and provide other support.”

The bill has gotten through the state Senate’s education committee and now must go through conference committees unscathed if it is to be part of the two-year budget proposal.

“There will be a lot of supporters calling the governor’s office in support of leaving this in the two-year budget,” Fedor said.

BENCHMARKS

If the law is approved, the state auditor will have to complete performance reviews of the districts within 60 days of its effective date and present the result of the audits to the local board of educations and the academic distress commissions.

The local board, working in conjunction with the academic distress commission and the chief executive officer assigned to the district, is required within 90 days of the legislation’s passage to submit a three-year academic improvement plan to state Superintendent Paolo DeMaria.

The plan will include annual and overall academic improvement benchmarks — and strategies for achieving them.

DeMaria will review and make recommendations to the state board of education for approval. The approved plan will run July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2025.

The districts’ commissions and CEOs shall work with the locally elected school board to implement the plan. At the end of the three-year period, the state board will review the accomplishments of the districts to determine if they achieved the majority of the plans submitted.

A GUARANTEE

State Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan, D-Youngstown, guaranteees if the language reaches the Ohio House, she will do everything in her power to keep it in the state’s two-year budget resolution.

“It is only the just and right thing to do to take care of all of our children,” Lepore-Hagan said.

Youngstown Board of Education President Ronald Shadd said the results of the performance review will be important to the district’s and the board’s future.

“We (the board) have not seen the latest five-year forecast that has been turned into the state,” Shadd said. “We will have to look at sustainable economic practices for the children and the district.”

The district’s 2021 five-year forecast shows it going more than $2.3 million into deficit spending beginning in 2023, increasing to $7.2 million by 2025 school year.

CHECK AND BALANCE

As the elected board begins to receive more information about the operation and the financials of the district, citizens will learn the district’s plans before they are placed into operation, Shadd noted.

“There will be a check and balance that has not existed under the ADC and the CEO model,” Shadd said. “We’ve already been preparing for more cooperation with the CEO and the ADC. We will begin having joint meetings starting June 16.”

School board member Jackie Adair said she is hopeful that SB 165 will be signed into law, but is cautious about its chances due to past failed efforts.

“The board will have a lot to do in preparing to resume control of the district,” Adair said. “With Joe Meranto deciding to retire, the board will have to be ready to look for a superintendent.”

Adair said she does not disagree with everything that CEO Justin Jennings has done. “There are things I’m OK with,” she said.

Adair, for example, approves of the elimination of the kindergarten-to-eighth-grade schools and returning junior high schools to the district.

She emphasized, however, that she would like more accountability — including the board learning the evaluation system being used for employees.

“We have been receiving ‘Fs’ on state report cards,” she said. “Why should we keep them?”

rsmith@tribtoday.com