'It has been absolutely brutal:' Lorain Schools lays out budget reduction proposals

To balance its budget, Lorain Schools could cut more than 140 jobs across the district next school year. Plans presented at Monday's Board of Education meeting saw proposals for redistricting and repurposing elementary schools, staffing cuts and pay freezes within the central office as a way to offset a looming $18 million deficit. No action was taken at the board meeting, and no plan is set in stone, Superintendent Jeff Graham told the staff and community members gathered in the high school auditorium that evening. The district, which has more than 1,000 employees, does not relish any of the cuts it will have to make for next school year, Assistant Superintendent Ross May said. Before presenting the proposal, he told a brief story of a teacher he recently recruited to work in the district who asked him, point blank, why he worked so hard to get her to come to Lorain Schools when she would only face a potential reduction in force after her first year. Looking out at the sea of community members in the auditorium Monday evening, he said he did not have a good answer for her. "This is the hand we were dealt and it sucks," he said. "It has been absolutely brutal." Elementary school proposals Lorain Schools listed two potential plans for its elementary buildings: Splitting its buildings into four K-2 and four 3-5 buildings paired by geography, or keeping eight of its 10 neighborhood schools. Repurposing the schools' 10 elementary buildings under a "paired" model would see Admiral King made a K-2 school and paired with Larkmoor as a 3-5 building; Frank Jacinto made a K-2 school paired with Toni Morrison as a 3-5 building; Hawthorne made a K-2 school paired with Stevan Dohanos as a 3-5 building; and Helen Steiner Rice as a K-2 school paired with Palm as its 3-5 counterpart. Going to the paired model would reduce bus routes to 14 in the morning and afternoon, compared to the current 19 morning and 17 afternoon routes, according to May's presentation. Across all of the elementary buildings, it would reduce staffing by about 58 positions, including cuts to building administrators, principals, specialists, media clerks and teachers. It would save the district about $7.3 million each year. The other suggestion would keep Admiral King, Hawthorne, Larkmoor, Toni Morrison, Frank Jacinto, Stevan Dohanos, Palm and Helen Steiner Rice as neighborhood schools and expand each buildings' boundary accordingly. That plan would see about 46 jobs cut, according to Monday's presentation and would save the district about $5.9 million each year. With the reduction of 10 elementary buildings to eight, the district could move all its preschool classes to Garfield Elementary and designate Washington Elementary as a school for students with autism. Currently, Lorain Schools' preschool program serves about 374 children at 10 sites, with 15 full-day classrooms and five half-day classrooms. It costs the district about $4.6 million. Monday's proposal would move all classes to Garfield Elementary and make them all half-day classes. The change would also require all preschool teachers to have special education licensure to be able to serve students with disabilities in all classes. The move could see about 36 positions eliminated, saving the district about $2.6 million each year. Repurposing Washington Elementary as a building for students with autism would allow the district to serve students it normally transports to out-of-district facilities in Lorain, Cuyahoga and Huron counties, May explained. Those services currently cost the district about $6.5 million each year. The proposed school would be for high-need students, and would require a maximum class size of six children, with every classroom having one teacher and two paraprofessionals. May said the school would have an estimated upfront cost of about $3.1 million to start, and ongoing costs of about $2.5 million, but could ultimately save the district about $2.9 million per year compared to what it spends on separate facility costs. Middle and high school changes There were fewer proposed changes to the middle and high schools. For the district's three middle schools, it could see a lengthening of class periods and the reduction of elective choices for students from two to one per semester. The new schedule would space out lunches and provide grade-specific electives, rather than splitting them between seventh and eighth grade. It could see 23 positions eliminated, saving about $3.3 million. For the high school and Success Academy, the district previously revised its master schedule and eliminated nine positions over the past two years. It proposes eliminating an additional two staff positions – which were not specified in Monday's presentation – that could save about $252,000. Lorain Schools is also in the process of launching Titan Virtual Academy, in hopes of increasing or maintaining enrollment rather than seeing students leave for online schools. To start, the district is focusing on middle and high school. It will cost the district $23-per-month, per-student to provide internet access to those who enroll, plus a $26,000 start up cost, May said, but for every child who returns to Lorain Schools from an online option, or stays in the district, it receives about $8,100 in state and federal funding. District-wide cuts Instead of using Title I funds to pay for additional supports for students, like teachers who pull children out for additional tutoring in English, Lorain Schools could pool its Title I funds to pay for 16 classroom teachers – 10 elementary teachers and six middle school teachers. Pooling those funds is allowed by the state for any school with more than 40 percent of students designated as low-income; Lorain Schools is considered 100 percent low-income by the state, according to its most recent report card. Title I teachers impacted by the potential change would be allowed to bid for other jobs as their licensure and contract allows, Superintendent Jeff Graham said Tuesday. The plan also eliminates 11 central office positions, and another seven unspecified roles, on top of eight central office jobs previously eliminated this school year. Additionally, central office staff will have a pay freeze and there will be additional reductions to classroom supplies, purchased services, overtime, supplementals, and capital outlay. Central office and district-wide changes have an expected savings of about $5.2 million. Graham was adamant during Monday's board meeting and again Tuesday that the proposals outlined were not set in stone, they are only the options the board can pick from to supply to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce as required by the district's status under fiscal precaution. If Lorain Schools does not provide the state with a plan by later this month, the state will make cuts for it. Lorain Schools' two proposals – either the paired school or neighborhood school elementary models – would save between $19.1 million and $20.5 million once fully implemented. A broken system Lorain Schools is far from alone in its financial state. The district, like others in Lorain County and across Ohio, has been forced to slash its budget and faces reductions in force due to cuts in state, federal and local funding. The state biennial budget cut $52 million from urban schools in Ohio, May said, with Lorain losing $4.9 million for the 2025-26 school year, and $6 million next year. That same day, federal title funds were frozen, and once released in August, were cut by $15 million for Ohio. Lorain Schools lost $787,000 in anticipated federal funds. When the Lorain County Commissioners approved a doubling of the homestead and owner-occupancy credits for property taxes in October, it cost the district another $1 million. In total, the district lost $6.7 million in anticipated funding between June and October – well after it had budgeted for the year in its financial forecasts. The district has an operating budget of about $110 million. May pointed to increases in state and federal spending for charter schools and vouchers, which saw more than $2 billion allocated in Ohio alone in the most recent state budget. "The system that is impacting us is impacting the majority of students across Ohio," May said. He compared it to when Lorain Schools was under Ohio House Bill 70, a 2015 law that allowed the state takeover of low-performing districts. Lorain, East Cleveland and Youngstown found themselves under state purview after failing report card scores. Lorain Schools was released from state control via an amendment in the 2023-24 biennial budget. The district and community banded together to see its schools returned to local control, May said, and it must band together again to weather this fiscal storm. He implored community members to call their local, state and federal legislators about the problems of school funding, and to support the 11-mill levy on the May ballot. If that levy, which would generate about $10.7 million each year, fails, another round of cuts is soon to follow. 'Our kids are here' Staff and families spoke out at Monday's session, imploring Graham and the Board of Education to direct cuts away from the classroom. Lorain Education Association President Julie Garcia said cutting teachers should be a last resort, and that any loss cannot be restructured away. She said the Board should review administrative and non-instructional positions before sacrificing teaching staff. Kate Costa, a Title I reading teacher at Admiral King Elementary, said title staff play a vital role in supporting students and teachers, including working closely with classroom staff to develop targeted interventions for students to boost their academic achievement. Without that, students may fall further behind. Cheryl Draga, a veteran math teacher at Lorain High, said her peers have chosen to stay at Lorain Schools to teach because "our kids are here." She pushed back against the paired school model, noting voters long ago approved a bond issue for neighborhood schools. "You're here to represent the community and the community made it very clear that is not in their best interest," she said to the Board of Education. "They are the people who voted you in here." Other staff members expressed anxieties as to what the changes would mean for their jobs, and shared their love for the district and the students they serve. Stevan Dohanos Assistant Principal Tom Price questioned how administrators could be tasked with running a building with fewer and fewer staff. He called it a "nearly impossible task." He questioned if there was a percentage of his salary he could give back to keep his staff intact. Graham said that there has been a discussion with the district's eight unions and anything like that would require union approval. Clover Fields, a second-grader at Stevan Dohanos Elementary, stood beside her mother, Mary Szefcyk, and expressed her own fears. "I am worried about possible budget cuts that could affect my teachers and counselors," the 8-year-old said. "These adults help me learn, feel safe and succeed every day – listing them would make it much harder. Please think about students like me when making these decisions." The Board of Education will vote on the plan it chooses to send to the state at its Feb. 23 meeting. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.