The financially distressed Coventry Local Schools could save $1 million if administrators turn away 666 students who go to school there but live outside the district.
That’s the recommendation of a report released Monday by Ohio Auditor of State Dave Yost, whose office probes for efficiency in state and local government agencies, including public schools.
The report found potential cost savings in Coventry’s liberal use of open enrollment, which allows Ohio parents to send children to another school district without taking up residence or paying local taxes there.
However, while reigning in Coventry’s overreliance on open enrollment would reduce expenses it also would trigger staffing and program cuts, school officials said, because out-of-district students make up more than one-third of Coventry’s enrollment.
The auditor’s report does not take into account academic and other financial factors that impact the decision to open or close the open enrollment spigot.
Risk of losses
Open enrollment, Ohio’s oldest school choice program, began in 1989. An early adopter, Coventry first utilized the program in 1993. To offset declining enrollment and avoid program cuts, Coventry has since become the biggest importer of out-of-town students in Ohio.
Last year, 37 percent of Coventry’s students did not live in the district.
State tax dollars — not local dollars — follow the children as they forfeit school transportation to open enroll across school district boundaries.
If school districts accept only enough students to fill empty seats, open enrollment can optimize revenue and efficiency, the auditor’s report explains. Taking in too many students, though, can lead to net funding losses.
Local critics have argued for years that it is this funding disparity that has fueled the financial decline of Coventry Local Schools.
The auditor’s report calculates that Coventry schools spent $5,692,575 last year to educate 782 nonresident students. These students brought $4,690,021 in state revenue, resulting in a net operating loss of $1,002,554.
Not an easy fix
Auditor Yost is quick to note the complexity of open enrollment.
His report, and Beacon Journal investigations before it, found that the number of open-enrolled students in Ohio has more than doubled since 2000. About 72,000 students took advantage of the program in 2013.
The Ohio legislature convened a group to study the issue earlier that year. The group met three times, argued mostly about funding and not academics, then disbanded with no further action taken by lawmakers.
The Ohio Department of Education also has not delved deeply into the issue, which remains a local decision.
The auditor’s report focuses on four Ohio school districts, with Coventry serving as the prime opportunity to curtail open enrollment. Though Yost recommends that some school districts increase class sizes, a move that research shows may be cost effective if detrimental to learning, his report does not directly address the academic impact of open enrollment.
In Coventry’s case, the community has become accustomed to a school system that — because it has more than 2,000 students — can offer certain extracurricular activities, arts and music options, and advanced college prep classes. That could all change if the district loses 666 students.
“It’s a financial audit,” Yost spokesperson Benjamin Marrison said. “So, one of the keys to this report and this audit is that we’re not making policy decisions for districts. That’s for local control, local citizens, local school boards. They have to decide if subsidizing out-of-district students is worth the benefits, such as having a larger marching band or being able to offer more than one Advanced Placement class.
“But those are policy decisions that we have no interest in making. But we do have an interest in helping local officials and residents understand that there’s a cost benefit analysis that should be done with open enrollment, not just a benefit analysis.”
“This is what I’ve seen in my experience here,” Coventry Superintendent Russell Chaboudy said. “The people within the school district itself are very happy with the school district and the programs that we offer. I think the people in the community that have kids in the district understand and appreciate that we’re able to offer additional programs and academic opportunities because of the number of kids that we have. And that’s my biggest fear, is that cutting 600 or 700 kids will wipe out those programs. And I’m not sure people understand, but people who have kids here will begin to leave as they seek out those educational opportunities elsewhere.”
Unsettled issue
The state placed Coventry in fiscal distress in 1997, upping the severity of that status in 2015. Through state-subsidized low interest rates, administrators are reducing the district’s outsized debt payments.
Now in a most elevated state of fiscal emergency, Coventry’s school board must make nearly all spending decisions with state approval. And state auditors have stepped in to help find areas to reduce costs.
Yost’s office released a performance audit in July recommending that the district curtail open enrollment, reigniting a longstanding debate in the community. Early this year, the district launched a 13-member group of stakeholders to study the issue and eventually make recommendations on policy changes to the school board. Those recommendations, originally expected in December, may take more time, Chaboudy said.
On that open enrollment study group, which meets in private, are local residents, school board members and administrators, the head of the Summit County Educational Service Center and two representatives of the Coventry Schools Taxpayers Accountability Coalition, a political action committee formed in 2013 to advocate for a reduction in the district’s heavy reliance on open enrollment.
Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @ABJDoug .