Sunday, November 07, 1999
Project Succeed loses funds
Results below par, cost $1M
BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Project Succeed Academy, Cincinnati Public Schools' program for students with chronic behavior problems, lost nearly $1 million in federal funds after the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) declared it unsuccessful.
The loss was the second financial blow the school received this fall. Last month, the district took $916,000 from the school after it enrolled nearly 200 fewer students than projected.
The losses total about two-thirds of the school's $3 million budget. The money can be used by the district in other schools.
The cuts strip the school of the “extras” its troubled students need to recover and return to their neighborhood schools, one supporter said. Those extras include nurses and psychologists to address students' social prob lems and teaching assistants to ensure small class size.
“This destroys the school,” said Bob Drake, a University of Cincinnati professor and member of Project Succeed's advisory board. “I don't know how we will be able to continue any of the things that set this school apart from any of the other schools in the district. There is almost nothing special about the school now.”
Title I funds are federal money earmarked for schools with high proportions of low-income students.
Project Succeed has received more than $900,000 in Title I money — far more than its statutory share of about $100,000 — under a waiver the district seeks from ODE each year to cover high operating costs. ODE considers that waiv er annually after reviewing discipline data, proficiency test scores and other performance indicators.
“They made a determination this year that the results were not sufficient enough to warrant the waiver,” district spokeswoman Jan Leslie said. “We know the school hasn't been successful, and we need to find other solutions.”
The other $916,000 the school lost because of an unexpected dip in enrollment likely was due to the district's system of student-based budgeting implemented this fall, Mr. Drake said.
Many schools, loath to see their budgets shrink, are holding onto their misbehavers instead of transferring them to Project Succeed, Mr. Drake said. The school enrolled just 230 students this fall — about 170 fewer than anticipated.
Mr. Drake and other Project Succeed supporters have filed a proposal to open a charter school called the New Community School. Superintendent Steven Adamowski is expected to recommend this month that the school board negotiate a contract with those applicants.
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