With more schools dealing with financial challenges in Ohio due to rising costs, school leaders are facing a conundrum: how to provide the same, or better, education services with fewer resources.
Despite the tough times, leaders with Ohio's Educational Service Centers, or ESCs, say they are here to help. But what is an ESC, and what is their role in Ohio education?
Breaking down the ever-changing role of Educational Service Centers
ESCs are regional public education agencies that are spread out across Ohio. There are 51 in total. Their main goal is to provide support services to schools.
At St. Clairsville-Richland City Schools, a mid-sized district in Appalachian Belmont County, Superintendent Christina Laudermilt said her school works closely with the East Central Ohio Educational Services Center. She says that includes hiring tutors from the ESC, and using specialized training that the center offers. One recent example? A training on how to serve students with dyslexia.
"It is not cost effective for us send a group of teachers to Columbus to do a training, but it is a lot more cost effective to bring somebody who has knowledge on that topic or content area in to the school," Laudermilt explained.
Randy Lucas is superintendent of the East Central Ohio ESC which is headquartered in Tuscarawas County and serves a wide swath of the surrounding region.
He says ESCs help schools like St. Clairsville-Richland save money by hiring staff that districts can't afford to bring on full-time. Districts can pay for what they need. An ESC-hired tutor could be at one school for a half day each week, and another school for two days a week, Lucas explained.
"The idea is, especially for your smaller mid-sized school districts, for there to be another entity that can provide services on behalf of the school districts that maybe they don't have the capacity to do on their own," Lucas said.
In general, ESCs' services run the gamut, including:
- Running certification and training programs for educators, especially when it comes to preschool and special education services
- Providing specialists focusing on special education or therapy
- Helping schools with information technology or human resources needs
- Providing or assisting with alternative education options, such as for students who are involved with the justice system
- Helping districts develop new curriculum
- Running or providing grants related to, driver's education programs
The East Central Ohio ESC employs around 600 employees across grant-funded, full-time and seasonal positions, Lucas said.
Each ESC has different offerings based on local needs, he added. The Eastern Central Ohio ESC, for example, has its own print shop that schools can use.
The Educational Service Center of the Western Reserve provides services to 90s schools in Northeast Ohio, mostly focused on Lake, Geauga and Portage counties. Superintendent Jennifer Felker says her ESC's services change regularly.
"We leverage multi-million dollars in grant funding from federal and state funds to deploy initiatives (with) high priorities of literacy, math, student wellness, drug-free community schools from the federal level, you name it," she explained
ESCs were previously called county boards of education, and they had a much more significant role in oversight over school districts. That role shifted due to a change in state law in the 1990s, Lucas said. He added state funding only makes up a small part of an ESC's budget; much of their funding comes from grants and schools paying for services.
Lessons from Education Service Centers for the current moment
At a time of rising property taxes, a grassroots movement has sprouted to ban all property taxes in Ohio. The initiative did not make the ballot this year, but the leader of Ax Ohio Tax, Brian Massie, has vowed to try again. While the group has not drafted a specific plan for how the state should fund schools without property taxes, Massie has suggested the state could save money by combining districts that could then share resources.
That's something that ESCs are already doing in Ohio, and a role that they play quite adeptly, Lucas argued.
"Everyone thinks it's a great idea to consolidate until it's their community, their school district and they no longer have the local control that they had," Lucas said. "Their colors are different, their mascots are different and there is a whole lot of tradition and pride and history that goes into this decision so it's very, very challenging."
Regardless of the Ax Ohio Tax initiative, school districts have been cutting back in recent years due to the current state funding climate and rising expenses.
Felker noted ESCs are there to help districts through these challenging times.
"Right now, we have districts with fiscal issues related to their long-term forecasts. How do we help them to look at and go in and do a staffing analysis?" she said. "I hire a whole fiscal service department team that goes in and advises schools on training of school treasurers, training accounts receivable and payable."
If push comes to shove, ESCs do have the legal authority to consolidate schools, Felker added. The ESC of the Western Reserve oversaw the territory transfer which led to a consolidation of the Newberry School District into West Geauga Local Schools in 2019.
