The Akron school board effectively severed ties with Akron Digital Academy — after sponsoring the online charter school for more than a decade — during its meeting Monday that ended in a closed-door discussion resulting in the elimination of 32 staff positions for the fall.
Those positions, 22 teachers and 10 other staffers, would save the district $2.25 million to $3 million next year as enrollment is expected to continue to decline.
“It’s a lot easier to bring people back in the fall based on where enrollment is than to try to eliminate a position in the fall,” Superintendent David James recommended to the board. “So I want to err on the side of caution and be conservative with those numbers.”
District Treasurer Jack Pierson is expected to roll out a five-year forecast May 30 that could offer a balanced budget for the coming fiscal year. That forecast, which projected a $9 million hole even after the November levy passed, improved over the past month as state budget talks in Columbus now project a 6 percent revenue increase and not a decrease.
Still, Pierson remains cautious of that increase and will present an alternative five-year forecast that assumes a more modest 3 percent revenue bump from the state.
The positions cut for the fall, unlike the 84 teachers cut last year, are in response to declining enrollment.
Classes with 15 to 16 students could be considered for consolidation, as attrition would reduce total classes.
Positions left vacant by 17 elementary-level and 15 secondary-level retiring teachers would not be filled in the fall, James said. A plumber, an assistant custodian, an audio-video technician and seven part-time custodian positions also would be cut.
The board also rescinded Akron schools’ sponsorship of Akron Digital Academy. The Ohio Department of Education requires the online academy, like any charter school, to have a sponsor consisting of a governing body or board of directors. That board previously included James, until he stepped down after academy staff, parents and students asserted he was central to a conflict of interest between the academy and the city district.
He and Ellen McWilliams, superintendent for curriculum and instruction for Akron schools, work for the public school while governing its online charter.
Each student who leaves Akron schools to attend its digital academy draws state money away from the public school district. So while Akron schools sponsors the academy, it also competes for the same student population.
Akron schools have lost 465 students’ worth of funding, or about $3.05 million, to the online school this year. Last year, 534 students and $3.4 million left Akron schools for the digital academy.
APS founded the academy in 2002 in an attempt to stymie the flow of students to charter schools, which often are operated privately. For its efforts, the district received about $75,000 in sponsorship fees last year, according to academy Director of Operations Dominic Donatelli.
He has been critical of James and other members of the academy board of directors, who voted two months ago to close the online school, only to overturn that decision following public outcry from students, parents and teachers.
Donatelli and James do share a common sentiment: Both would like to walk away from the partnership.
“We’re giving them the opportunity to find another sponsor,” James said.
Donatelli, who remains confident that Akron Digital Academy will find a sponsor before its nearly 550 students return in the fall, wishes he had more time to do so.
“Obviously 90 days is going to be pretty tight to get everything rolling,” he said.
Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com.