Poverty boosts funding

from The Star Beacon

Conneaut schools will get thousands more from state, may lose elsewhere

By MARK TODD - Staff Writer - mtodd@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon

CONNEAUT — Poverty levels in Conneaut now entitle the local school districts to receive thousands of dollars in state aid, Board of Education members learned at Thursday night's work session.

The district will receive $700,000 in poverty based assistance, the maximum allowed, said Jack Nairus, area coordinator for the Ohio Department of Education's office of school finance. However, more than half of the amount must be spent on the district's all-day, every day kindergarten program.

Nairus also warned the state stands to deduct some $200,000 in other areas of funding assistance.

The Conneaut Area City Schools district this year crossed a dubious thresholds to qualify for the money, Nairus said. “Your poverty percentage is higher than the state average,” he said.

Members were told the city's poverty numbers did not necessarily increase, but the state lowered the averages needed to qualify, Nairus said. Conneaut joins the Ashtabula school district as the only ones in Ashtabula County to receive the maximum amount of poverty-based assistance, he said.

Some 110 of Ohio's 612 school districts receive the maximums, Nairus said. Last year, Conneaut received $212,000 in poverty-related funds.

Kindergarten is targeted in poverty programs to help jump-start students at the earliest age, Nairus said. “When you've got poverty, you've got a potential lack of achievement,” he said.

The Conneaut district provides eight kindergarten classes, which are paid through the general fund. The poverty-based assistance money would allow the district to spend its kindergarten dollars elsewhere, Nairus said.

Conneaut must also spend its poverty-based money in two other areas:

n Programs aimed at academic intervention, defined as helping students succeed aimed at helping students succeed at their state achievement tests

n Programs at the kindergarten and grades 1-3 level to help young students excel on their third-grade proficiency tests.

In addition to the poverty-based assistance, the district will also receive $145,000 in parity aid, which is also based on household income numbers. Parity money comes with no restrictions and can be spent as the district sees fit, Nairus said.

Parity aid is determined by a formula that compares property value within the district to the number of students. Some 400 districts are receiving parity aid and Conneaut ranks 199th, Nairus said. The number of funded districts drops every year, he said.

Nairus also advised the board its $1.6 million emergency levy on the November ballot could jeopardize the $600,000 the district receives in so-called gap aid from the state. Gap aid is the difference between what the state estimates the district should earn in local taxes compared to the actual amount that is earned.

If the levy is successful, the gap aid would be reduced in increments of $200,000 annually, Nairus said.