Tuesday, May 18, 1999
Cost-cutting may reduce test sites for Walnut Hills
Plan called unfair to poor, minorities
BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Two Cincinnati Board of Education members worry that a cost-cutting plan to offer Walnut Hills High School's entrance exam at the high school — instead of testing sixth-graders at every elementary — could keep low-income students away.
The issue arose at a public hearing the board hosted at the district's Corryville headquarters on Superintendent Steven Adamowski's 1999-2000 $360 million budget proposal. The plan includes $20 million in cuts officials say are needed after they decided to postpone seeking a tax increase until November.
Mr. Adamowski wants to shift the $60,000 cost of administering Walnut Hills' entrance exam to the high school. The school would either host the test administration on a Saturday or set up “a few” testing places citywide, Associate Superintendent Kathleen Ware said.
About 6,000 students took the test last year; 350 went on to enroll at Walnut Hills as seventh-graders, Ms. Ware said.
But before the tests were offered at every elementary school, board member Harriet Russell said, parents complained that transportation troubles prevented many low-income students from traveling to Walnut Hills to take the test.
Some principals also tended to overlook minorities when recommending prospective Walnut Hills students, she said. “We are taking a step backward.”
Board member Arthur Hull said he shared those concerns.
Inequity is a problem that has plagued the 47,200-student district for years. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is pushing a federal judge to reopen a desegregation case it first filed in 1974, saying dismal student achievement proves the district's lack of commitment to equitable education.
District officials counter that they have already started working to close a $30 million equity gap between CPS' popular magnet programs and struggling neighborhood schools.
Ishton Morton, a member of the Cincinnati branch of the NAACP and a former CPS teacher, cautioned the board to weigh racial concerns when making budget decisions.
“Funding for public education in Cincinnati is a highly racially charged issue, and we need to deal with it from that perspective,” said Mr. Morton, one of three people to speak at the public hearing.
Board members expect to approve a budget by the end of June. The next public board meeting is May 24.
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