Gadfly Bites 1/8/25—Ensnared in a web of string and pushpins

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1. Budget season is typically silly season here in Ohio, and that’s always true of education policy discussion in a budget season. Case in point is this piece, which takes a couple of innocuous quotes from legislators in the incoming General Assembly about the future of the Fair School Funding Formula and spins them into a tangled web of string and pushpins to create…something else. (News 5 Cleveland, 1/7/25)
   
   

2. While it is true that new House Speaker Matt Huffman questioned the sustainability of a third phase of increases in the school funding formula, launching the maze of connections constructed in the above piece, it’s important to note that the “threat” of “cuts” noted in its headline did not occur. But why quibble about logic in silly season? Even though I may think that fiscal sustainability should be top of mind for our legislators all the time, maybe I am the only one who thinks so, especially now. Here, for example, is a legislator opining in favor of an $800/year subsidy for every school age child in the state, including those from the wealthiest families—sustainability (apparently) be darned. (Columbus Dispatch, 1/8/25)
   
   

3. Finally today, in keeping with the topic of weird webs of connection, I give you what is potentially the most random clip ever included in Gadfly Bites: Fordham boss Mike Petrilli is quoted in a press release from the group running Cleveland’s annual boat show, talking about the large percentage of high school seniors in Ohio that do not pursue a 2-year or 4-year degree after graduation. What’s this got to do with boats? The Ohio Marine Trades Association is sponsoring its first ever “workforce days” during the show next week, which will allow students from across northeast Ohio to learn about “the diverse career opportunities available in the marine industry”—in case they fall into that wide swath of kids who aren’t going on to college and will soon be looking for jobs instead. Ten school districts (no charter or private or STEM schools, darn) are listed as “sending students on field trips or offering career shadowing opportunities to encourage students to explore the marine industry as a viable career path.” Love the initiative, love the string and pushpin connections, love the randomness. Keep it coming, journalists. Bites is here for it all! (Marine Business World, 1/8/25) Mike’s 2023 testimony before the Ohio House Economic and Workforce Development Committee can be read in full here.

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