Youngstown City School District officials link budget struggles to enrollment drop and transportation cuts
At Tuesday evening’s Youngstown City School Board meeting, district leaders discussed ongoing financial challenges, pointing to a decline in enrollment as a key factor in reduced state funding.
Bryan Schiraldi, treasurer for the district, said while expenses are largely on track with projections, revenue is down compared to last year—primarily due to lower student numbers in certain areas.
“There have been some decreased revenues due to some of our, you know, enrollment numbers compared to last year,” Schiraldi said. “Our Special Ed preschool numbers have dropped, and some of our special ed transportation has decreased, resulting in some decreased revenues, which, you know, obviously hurts the district.”
Superintendent Jeremy Batchelor said earlier changes to the district’s transportation structure may have played a role in the enrollment decline—particularly the decision to eliminate high school transportation and shift how special education students are transported.
“We got rid of high school transportation,” Batchelor said, noting that special transportation for students with IEPs is now managed through a third-party provider after the district issued a request for proposals.
Batchelor said the district anticipated some enrollment impact from the transportation changes but didn’t know exactly how significant it would be.
While both leaders emphasized that the district is not in a crisis, they acknowledged the importance of carefully monitoring the situation. Schiraldi said they continue to review vendor contracts and staffing levels to ensure resources are being used wisely. He also pointed to uncertainty surrounding the state’s biennium budget and how possible changes could affect school funding formulas.
“We’re always preparing for the different scenarios that could come about,” Schiraldi said. “That’s why we do the five-year forecast... so we can see what the results would be if certain things happen.”
Batchelor echoed that approach, saying the focus remains on planning ahead and supporting students despite the financial pressure.
“We know what our enrollment is, and so that’s probably not going to change for the rest of this year,” he said. “We’ll utilize the dollars that we have as smartly as we can.”
The district says no immediate cuts or major changes are being implemented, but more may be discussed depending on how the state funding situation evolves in the coming months.
