Friday, May 07, 1999
Arts campus faces review
Schools' budget gap could be an obstacle
BY PHILLIP PINA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Backers of a new arts campus in Over-the-Rhine will review their $99.2 million project over the next few months, including the possibility of creating a charter school.
The Greater Cincinnati Arts and Education Center trustees want to develop a kindergarten through 12th grade school devoted to the arts near Music Hall. The new campus would replace the School for Creative and Performing Arts and the Schiel School.
Tight finances in the Cincinnati Public Schools are forcing trustees of the arts campus to rethink their approach, said Paul Bernish, trustees spokesman. The district says it must cut $20 million from its budget.
Planners envision that Central Parkway will someday be an “arts corridor” stretching from the Cincinnati Ballet's facilities at Liberty Street to the Emery Theatre at Wal nut Street. They also hope to rejuvenate the neighborhood surrounding Cincinnati's famed Music Hall, with the arts campus being an integral part of the vision.
No decision has been made on whether to abandon a traditional public school, Mr. Bernish said. But before backers invest millions of dollars into the project, they want assurances that they are taking the best route.
State-approved charter schools, which rely on taxpayers for funding, are free of many state and local mandates, which can be costly. The Cincinnati district has embraced the charter school movement as a way of reforming struggling schools by considering opening its own charter programs.
At its meeting Tuesday, the arts campus trustees made no decision on how to deal with the Drop-Inn Center, a homeless shelter that would have to be moved to make way for the arts school, said Pat Clifford, general coordinator of the shelter. His agency is worried that if the group moves toward creating a charter school, there will be less public involvement.
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