Gadfly Bites 2/11/26—Offensive strategy

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1. While this op-ed from the superintendent of the Montgomery County Education Services Center is advertised as an offensive move to “make clear that public schools truly are the heartbeat of our community” (as if that statement would be of any substantive value by itself even if it were true), it only takes a couple of sentences before the whole thing becomes a transparently defensive effort to guilt families away from choosing private school options. The headline asks “why is this the moment for a pro-public schools community campaign?” The answer is: Because EdChoice ain’t going away. (Dayton Daily News, 2/9/26)
   
   

2. The thrust of this story is that Akron City Schools has, by the skin of its teeth, managed to evade the unholy threat of financial oversight by the Empire State of Ohio. (Oh no! They might make us stop blaming everyone else for our woes, help us live within our means, and avoid running out of cash, the beasts!) The Akronites have done so by cutting expenditures for this school year by an impressive $6.6 million and by finding in the metaphorical couch cushions booking an unexpected tax windfall of $477K. Put the proper another way: Ohio’s process of escalating fiscal oversight of traditional school district budgets WORKED EXACTLY LIKE IT’S SUPPOSED TO—AGAIN. (Akron Beacon Journal, 2/10/26) Meanwhile, among the many trial balloons being floated to avoid state fiscal oversight in Lorain City Schools—man would that generate some unpleasant flashbacks up there—is creation of a new district-run virtual school “in hopes of increasing or maintaining enrollment rather than seeing students leave for online schools.” The a$$t $upe is even kind enough to price it all out for us so we don’t even have to speculate on their motives: It will cost the district $23 per month per student to provide internet access to everyone who enrolls in Titan Virtual Academy (that’s nice of them I guess, but I do wonder what the quality of $23 internet service is) as well as $26,000 in startup expenses (no idea what those might be for), but for every child who “returns” to the district from an online charter school, or who doesn’t leave the district because of TVA, Lorain will receive $8,100 in state and federal funding. It’s $o $imple, right? Sure sounds like an offensive strategy to me. (The Chronicle-Telegram, 2/10/26)
   
   

3. Switching gears with a sigh of relief, here’s a look at a recent op-ed by State Senator Mark Romanchuk in his hometown paper extolling the virtue of Ohio’s private schools. “Receiving an education in a safe, disciplined and welcoming classroom environment matters. In a world that is constantly changing, receiving instruction that includes the bedrock teachings of the Western world gives students a foundation to stand on as they face the issues that will arise in their day and age.” (Tribune-Courier, 2/5/26) Relatedly, here’s a different take on Ohio’s Tax Credit Scholarship Program than the one we talked about on Monday. Instead of haters hating (and the Cleveland haters still haven’t stopped hating!), we get an inside look at how the program has helped families attending a pair of Jewish schools in Columbus. Those pieces are like night and day, right? (Columbus Jewish News, 2/10/26) Finally today, just to ram home my point with the minimum amount of subtlety it is rhetorically possible to utilize: While high-spending and low-performing school districts and their head-in-the-sand apologists are busy pointing fingers for their own failings, guilt-tripping parents who dare to want something better for their kids, and transparently scheming to offer students dollar-store education plans in exchange for thousands in taxpayer money, here’s a look at Hawken School’s Medical Science Semester, an intensive academic and residential program for high school students interested in becoming medical practitioners, launching in spring 2027. It sounds like a dream, and anything we can do to open the door to more of that kind of educational awesomeness for as many kids who want it is a good thing. It seems easy enough to me to ignore the flailing haters and to embrace those who demonstrate they truly care about—and will do the work—to boost kids’ academic achievement. How’s that for an offensive strategy? (Cleveland Jewish News, 2/9/26)

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