Posted on 04/28/2018 5:24:52 AM PDT by Wolfie
Ohio district says it will stop allowing white students to leave district, citing 'racial balance'
An Ohio school district with a growing proportion of minority students says it will stop allowing white students to attend a neighboring district through open enrollment and take public funding with them because it wants to avoid becoming segregated.
The Liberty Local Schools board just north of Youngstown unanimously backed that resolution this week, stepping into the knotty intersection of education funding and race. It cited a nearly 30-year-old state law that districts can object to students enrolling elsewhere tuition-free "in order to maintain an appropriate racial balance."
The situation is an unusual reversal of how racial issues typically play out in disputes over inter-district open enrollment, said University of Oklahoma professor Deven Carlson, who has studied such enrollment. Those disputes tend to be about affluent, mostly white districts trying to exclude students, Carlson said, not about lower-income, more diverse districts trying to retain them, as in this case.
It's been tried before in Ohio and ended up in court. When Akron schools similarly tried to stop white students from switching to suburban schools two decades ago, a judge blocked enforcement of that effort when Akron was accused of discrimination, and the district quickly changed its policy to more broadly ban open enrollment out of the district.
Liberty Superintendent Joe Nohra, who started looking at enrollment when he took that job this school year, found himself defending his district's approach this week.
"Our board is not making a statement that we want to increase our white population or that we want an all-white school district," said Nohra, who is white. "We just don't want the school district to become segregated."
Liberty gets about 125 students but loses about 250 through open enrollment. More than half the incoming students are minorities, while most of those leaving are white, Nohra said.
That contributes to racial disparities between the local population and the public schools' student roster of a little over 1,000 students. Minorities now account for about half the students but less than 20 percent of residents in Liberty Township, according to state data and the most recent U.S. Census estimates from 2016.
But it's not just about race. It's also about money, because certain funding follows the kids.
Open enrollment away from Liberty diverts over $1.5 million in annual funding from a district that can't afford to replace torn books or its dilapidated running track and likely couldn't pass a local tax increase to help, Nohra said. That leaves the district about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southeast of Cleveland scrapping for students in a Rust Belt region whose population has been shrinking for years.
So it turned to an Ohio provision that says if the home district objects to local students enrolling in another public district, that district must refuse them unless tuition is paid.
Liberty loses the most students to Girard and targeted it in the resolution, alleging it aggressively pursues white students from Liberty. Board president Calvin Jones, who is black, took a softer tone, suggesting Liberty simply suffers negative effects as Girard strives for its best.
Girard school board president Mark Zuppo said his district doesn't do targeted recruiting and welcomes any students who choose to attend as long as they're in good standing and the school has room.
"I don't care what color they are," said Zuppo, frustrated to be talking about race at all.
He suggested Liberty should evaluate why so many of its students leave.
Liberty officials say they don't have all those answers, but race appears to be one factor. Some families have directly said or implied that Liberty has become "too diverse" too quickly, but others have said they value the diversity, Nohra said.
By contrast, Girard schools have a significantly higher proportion of white students. They also get higher state marks than Liberty in categories such as academic achievement and growth and improving literacy among young readers, according to last year's district report cards.
It wasn't immediately clear whether Liberty students who already attend Girard would be affected by the resolution.
Meanwhile, the Ohio Department of Education said it's seeking more information about the matter.
“Public schools should be as good or even better than the best private schools”
Those in many affluent suburbs are.
.
Hello white flight. Either that or home school
Liberty Local Schools board just north of Youngstown... cited a nearly 30-year-old state law that districts can object to students enrolling elsewhere tuition-free "in order to maintain an appropriate racial balance." ...When Akron schools similarly tried to stop white students from switching to suburban schools two decades ago, a judge blocked enforcement of that effort when Akron was accused of discrimination, and the district quickly changed its policy to more broadly ban open enrollment out of the district. Liberty Superintendent Joe Nohra... found himself defending his district's approach this week... Liberty gets about 125 students but loses about 250 through open enrollment. More than half the incoming students are minorities, while most of those leaving are white, Nohra said... Liberty loses the most students to Girard and targeted it in the resolution, alleging it aggressively pursues white students from Liberty. Board president Calvin Jones, who is black, took a softer tone, suggesting Liberty simply suffers negative effects as Girard strives for its best. Girard school board president Mark Zuppo said his district doesn't do targeted recruiting and welcomes any students who choose to attend as long as they're in good standing and the school has room.
The key thing for Nohra to remember is, if he takes the job, don't act like an a-hole when the preexisting problems cover the entire field of vision.
BTW, the hospital in Greenville Michigan is able to continue to operate because doctors from all over the place volunteer their services there.
Thanks Wolfie.
I used tell my colleagues that public schools are doomed. By law, they must accept child who lives in the district—as long as he or she hasn’t been expelled. In addition, those who are “handicapped” must get top priority on a school’s budget. One kid in a wheelchair forced my small school to install an elevator (over $100,000) to go from a lower level to an upper level. It has been used maybe a dozen times in the last 6 years. And “handicapped” includes those with mental and emotional issues as well.
The last administration’s (spit) insistence that discipline issues had to be balanced on racial lines brought us to where we are now. Kids in some (thankfully not all) schools can now assault teachers and staff with few, if any consequences—this to avoid the horrible “school to prison pipeline”. We all saw how well that worked in Florida. I enjoyed my career in the public schools, but I can’t say that I’d recommend it to someone now considering it as one’s life’s work.
School sounds racist to me, making decisions based on skin color.
Did the other, adjoining school districts whose territory was being encroached upon not object?
Seriously, one school district can "expand its borders" only at the expense of other, neighboring school districts - so what possible reason could those other districts who were being forcibly "shrunk" have had to submit to this?
Regards,
Move out of the district, send your kids to private school or home school. Don’t expose your kids to the liberals running this school distict.
“Seriously, one school district can “expand its borders” only at the expense of other, neighboring school districts -”
My understanding is it’s all the same school board. They control all the schools. Incidentally, Leon has one of the highest per pupil costs and among the lowest outcomes. There are few A and B rated schools there. Wakulla, the rural county adjacent, has all A and B rated schools. The racial makeup appears to be the same. Wakulla has a much lower cost per pupil. I think the difference is, Leon has been entirely Democratically controlled for generations. Wakulla is firmly Republican. The difference between the philosophy affects everything from property tax to graduation rates.
Countless residential subdivisions spring up in outlying suburbs across America in the 1970’s to supply the housing demand of people wishing to move to avoid forced busing of their kids to city schools outside their own neighborhoods.
Buckeyes were ardent backers of desegregation and the civil rights movement. What gives now?
They love black people as long as they don’t live with them, or have their daughters marrying one.
Thanks for the clarification!
Regards,
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.