House Bill 70 was an experiment — granted, a very much needed experiment — in search of ways to pull Youngstown City Schools from the state school report card depths.

Passed in 2015 and dubbed the “Youngstown Plan,” HB 70 ripped local control from duly elected boards of education and instead placed it in the hands of a state commission-appointed chief executive officer.

The move came because Youngstown students have struggled so mightily with their studies that the district has remained in academic distress since January 2010. HB 70 passed in 2015, mandating that any school district like Youngstown that received an overall “F” grade on its state report card for three consecutive years would come under control of a state-appointed CEO. The law further mandates that if the district continues to receive F grades for four consecutive years, the elected local board of education — already made impotent under HB 70 — would also be replaced by new members appointed by the mayor.

So far, Youngstown City Schools have not improved, and in fact were headed for the fourth F rating before an agreement was reached based on loopholes in the law’s language that will allow the local elected board to retain their seats for at least another year.

And under unilateral control of a CEO, the school district has gone from a $23 million surplus to a projected $30 million deficit.

While programs such as STEM and after-school tutoring have been removed, Youngstown school board member Ronald Shadd said, dozens of high-level administrative positions have been added, Larry Ellis of the Youngstown Education Association said.

Let’s face it, the experiment is not working in Youngstown.

In fact, it’s not working anywhere.

Since the 2015 implementation, two other Ohio school districts have come under state control due to consecutive failing grades. East Cleveland Schools, described by some as possibly the poorest community and school district in Ohio, came under state control in September 2018, after the district received its third consecutive F grade. The district received yet another F grade in the fall of 2019.

Lorain City Schools were placed under state control in 2017. Lorain did improve to a D grade last year, but the school district will not be released from state control because there will be no test scores that could measure improvement this year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Lorain, like Youngstown, the number of administrators rose under former CEO David Hardy Jr.

There, the academic distress commission earlier this year voted unanimously to remove Hardy. Friction between Hardy and the elected board peaked with the board filing a restraining order against Hardy. At one point during the fracas, Hardy was refusing to pay the district’s 900 employees.

It’s clear this plan is not working — possibly because it eliminates checks and balances. When all control goes to a CEO, there is no accountability to the voters or the taxpayers.

The three districts currently under state control share low income levels and all the challenges that come with poverty.

Jimma McWilson, founder of the African Education Party in Youngstown, is seeking ways to improve education in the city by demanding accountability. Last week he contrasted Youngstown schools to city school districts in Steubenville and Warrensville Heights, Ohio.

Steubenville, he said, is a school district with a 25 percent black enrollment that earned a “B” on its 2019 school report card. Warrensville Heights schools, 95 percent black, received a “C” on the state report card.

“What is the difference?” he questioned. “Is it race? Is it expectations from those who lead? … It does not take a five-year plan or a seven-year plan to turn this around,” McWilson said. “Warrensville Heights went from an ‘F’ to a ‘C’ in two years.”

He is correct, and new answers must be sought.

As boards of education and CEOs bicker over spending and revenue, who is focusing on the children? Indeed, it is they who suffer.

Checks and balances need to be returned. Local control and the will of the voters must be respected.

HB 70 is not working. It is time for Ohio legislators to admit they were wrong and to begin their search for something new.

editorial@tribtoday.com