BY SANDY THEIS
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS - Innovation. School choice. Higher standards. Better discipline.
Legislators often cite them as things public schools need more of.
Cincinnati Public Schools officials, however, maintain they offer such reforms - reforms they say are threatened by less-than-inflationary increases in state aid proposed in the coming budget.
Today, Cincinnati school Superintendent J. Michael Brandt and Lynn Marmer, president of the Cincinnati Board of Education, are scheduled to testify before a House finance subcommittee wrestling with the primary and secondary education portion of the proposed $36.14 billion state budget.
''We think we're doing a lot of things right,'' said Richard Gardner, CPS treasurer. ''We think we spend our money more efficiently and more effectively. Yet we find ourselves at the bottom of the allocation.''
For example, Cleveland Public Schools - beset with mismanagement and financial irregularities - would receive a 22.7 percent increase in basic state aid under the budget proposal. Youngstown schools - also in a fiscal crisis - would see their funding rise 12 percent.
Cincinnati would place last among the large urban districts with a proposed 3.1 percent increase over the two-year budget which begins July 1.
Mr. Brandt and Ms. Marmer will ask for an additional $26 million for Cincinnati's schools and will testify about the district's efforts to reduce discipline problems, re-tool neighborhood schools and offer parents and students choices through magnet schools.
Gov. George Voinovich's budget proposal also calls for eliminating a separate $10 million the district had been receiving over the biennium for its magnet schools. The district has used the schools as its major tool for desegregation.
Some local legislators have pledged to work to restore the funds.
Still, money for all urban schools is under fire by a coalition of rural and suburban lawmakers upset that some of their schools face proposed budget cuts under Mr. Voinovich's plan.
The governor's budget focuses much of the state's limited resources on a series of urban school initiatives, including $4.5 million to launch a pilot charter school plan in Lucas County, including Toledo.
It also calls for $15.8 million to expand a school voucher program in Cleveland.
The pilot program, which began this school year, provides up to $2,500 in tuition assistance to a Cleveland families wanting to send their children to a private school.
''You hear a lot about 'school choice,' in the form of vouchers and charter schools,'' Mr. Gardner said. ''We have been offering choice to our students for over 20 years in the form of our magnet schools.''
About 17,000 students are enrolled in magnet schools where students have a history of out-performing those in non-magnet schools, he said.
School officials also plan to tell legislators about the district's New American Schools. The program offers specialized curriculums and is a cornerstone of the district's efforts to revitalize neighborhood programs.
Until recently, specialized curriculums were found primarily in magnet schools, which control enrollment with racial and gender quotas. In contrast, neighborhood schools enroll all students from their communities. Seventeen buildings have New American Schools programs, and the district hopes to add eight to 10 more next year.
And finally, district officials hope to showcase a discipline initiative begun this year for grades kindergarten through eight.
The first quarter resulted in a 33 percent drop in suspensions and a 21 percent drop in expulsions, said CPS spokeswoman Monica Curtis.
