044636-1 Audit Executive Summary

Parma City School District Performance AuditEXECUTIVE SUMMARY Project History The State Legislature included, within the biennial budget bill (Am. Sub. H.B. 215), an urbaninitiative package which earmarked an additional budget allocation of $113.58 million for the largesttwenty-one urban school districts in the State of Ohio. The urban initiative package resulted froma series of programs/ideas proposed by the urban districts to help solve unique problems the urbandistricts face in effectively educating their students. The programs contained within the urbaninitiative package include extended and full-day kindergarten ($86.8 million); school readinessresource centers ($10.2 million); the Jobs for Ohio Graduates Program ($3.3 million); Graduation,Reality and Dual Role Skills Program ($1.8 million); professional development for urban leadershipacademies ($6 million); and teacher-peer review ($5.48 million). As a condition to receiving theseadditional dollars, the urban districts are required to comply with two conditions. The first conditionrequires the district to implement an academic performance benchmarking program. The plan mustcontain certain performance indicators including graduation rates, attendance rates and literacylevels, while also establishing a strategy for achieving enhanced performance levels on allindicators. The second condition is for the urban districts to undergo a performance audit conductedby the State Auditor’s Office. ...