Penny-Pinching in Youngstown

As New York City schools finally opened, a different kind of crisis caused the 44 schools of Youngstown, Ohio, to shut down at least 15 days before and after the Christmas vacation. The reason was lack of money. This month Youngstown voters simply refused to raise the school-tax rate, even though it is the lowest of Ohio's seven largest cities. Although other cities have balked at school-tax hikes, this was the sixth time in two years that Youngstown had rejected a higher levy.

There were reasons for the voters' stinginess. Steel plants in the heavily industrialized city were operating below normal levels, Roman Catholics were hard-pressed to support their own parochial schools, elderly residents with no stake in education were feeling the pressures of inflation. Surprisingly, two radio talk shows on which citizens aired their grievances hurt the school cause. "All the ding-a-lings called in to spread their ignorance and misinformation--and people believe all those nuts because they hear it on the radio," complained one school official. Some callers, for example, falsely claimed that the school board had extra money hidden away, and that the state would pick up any operating deficit. The tax increase lost by a scant 1,366 votes (27,187 to 25,821).

The latest tax increase would have passed easily if Youngstown's powerful unions had supported it, but organized labor has long felt estranged from the city's schools. Until recently, the school board had no labor-oriented representatives. School officials failed to support a United Steelworkers plan to open a community college in Youngstown that would have provided more opportunities for high-level vocational instruction. The main source of friction was a rivalry over who should represent the city's teachers in contract negotiations: the local affiliate of the National Education Association or the growing Youngstown Federation of Teachers, an A.F.L.-C.I.O. unit. The school board consistently favored the N.E.A. group, which is nonunion.

Youngstown hopes to reopen its schools early next year, when regular taxes again come due, but the board must try again at the polls for an increase that will allow them to stay open. Meanwhile, Youngstown's cantankerous voters inadvertently helped school systems elsewhere in Ohio. School supporters in Akron won a tax increase by waging a highly effective word-of-mouth campaign with the argument "Let's not become another Youngstown."

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