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Schools

Lakewood Schools to Launch Initiative to Verify Students' Residency

Cost-cutting measure expected to offset some of the state funding cuts.

As budget woes loom in the not-so-distant future for , district officials are looking everywhere to further cut spending.

During the Board of Education’s regular meeting Monday night, officials announced hiring K12 Consulting to verify the residency of each Lakewood City Schools student to ensure he or she is lawfully attending class.

“There have been some significant savings to the district by locating students that should be going to some other district or some other district should be paying for them,” board member Ed Favre said. “This is due diligence to the Lakewood taxpayer to ensure that they’re not paying for students who aren’t Lakewood students.”

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If K12 doesn’t find students who shouldn’t be attending Lakewood public schools,  the search will be free, district Treasurer Rick Berdine said. If students are found, the district will pay $550.

“We may save nothing and spend nothing, or we may find that there are some hits and we will save some large amounts of money,” Berdine said.

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The board is taking this and other actions to cut unnecessary costs and help the district absorb funding gaps expected to widen during the next several years as Gov. John Kasich and Ohio legislators take drastic steps to balance the state’s budget.  

Since federal stimulus funds have dried up, Ohio faces a $7 billion to $8 billion budget shortfall, and school funding cuts of ranging from to 10 percent to 30 percent are expected when the state budget is approved this July 1. 

Lakewood is looking at a $2.4 million to $4.4 million cut in state funding in next school year alone and the district already has made $8 million in cuts in the last two and a half years to keep costs down, Berdine said.

In other news, the board held a small ceremony for nine students who recently graduated from .

This community conversion charter school accepts students who learn best in an alternative setting with a lower studet-to-teacher ratio, Assistant Superintendent Jeffrey Patterson said.

 “This is our ninth graduation ceremony over the last six years, and we’ve graduated 52 students total,” Patterson said. “We’re proud of these students. We look forward to the achievements and successes that lie ahead for them in the future.” 

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