Gadfly Bites 3/13/26—Who can say?

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1. Fordham’s school funding guru Aaron Churchill is quoted all too briefly in this piece on the topic of districts across the state suddenly realizing they need to cut their budgets or risk falling into fiscal distress. He himself saw it coming, thanks to ESSER-fueled overspending that didn’t stop when the federal money dried up, and thinks that going back to pre-pandemic spending levels would be a good first step for any district that hasn’t yet done so. (Ohio Newsroom, 3/11/26)
   
   

2. The other big contributor to district budget holes is leaders refusing to acknowledge ongoing student enrollment losses and failing to right-size themselves (buildings, staff, operations) as a result. And even when the light does finally dawn—as it seems to have done for the leaders of Claymont Local Schools after many years of decline—the response never seems to be the most straightforward fix. To wit: The preferred solution of Claymont’s supe is to close one underutilized elementary building and consolidate remaining students across two, also currently undersubscribed, other buildings. That would be a positive thing for the district if a) it happened immediately, b) it allowed for a reduction in staff, and c) that closed building was then sold off rather than demoed or maintained while empty. We get no clarity on any of those important points in this piece and districts across the state are renowned for not following the most productive pathways with no real explanation. Indeed a second proposal for Claymont noted in this piece is for them to close no buildings, accrue debt to build an addition onto the high school, and then—at some point after that is done—maybe two other buildings could close. I personally have no idea what it would take for these folks—or any others—to choose the right path. (Your Ohio News, 3/12/26) Speaking of which, here’s a great piece looking at a district on the edge of fiscal distress—Barberton City Schools, currently in “fiscal caution” status for all of the above reasons—and somewhat churlishly trying to meet the state’s requirement to come up with a deficit-elimination plan. Interestingly, this piece also includes some details from another district that has been in “fiscal watch” since 2020, with the state having even more oversight into their spending as a result. Has it worked so far? Yes. They are required to present a balanced budget every year (no deficit spending), and seem to have been able to do so. Will that continue if the state ever cuts them loose? Unclear. “If we were ever let out of fiscal oversight,” said Springfield Local Schools supe Shelley Monachino, “that [balanced budget] really is a great way of making sure that you are staying in within your budget.” But, she says what happens a lot with schools is that “when they do get that influx of money. Sometimes they think, ‘Oh, look at all this money that we have,’ and then they just keep spending.” So who can say what will happen in the future? (Ideastream Public Media, 3/12/26)
   
   

3. Finally this week: In case you missed it somehow, Gov. DeWine gave his final state of the state speech on Tuesday. He talked about a lot of education-related topics including funding, science of reading, and chronic absenteeism. I’m sure we’ll hear more about all of his priorities for the last year of his administration, but here’s a look at one important development coming shortly: A statewide attendance dashboard, to be launched on the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce’s website on April 15 and updated weekly after that. “This new tool will provide parents, the public, people in the community with simple, fast, and transparent attendance data each week for every district, for every school,” DeWine said in his speech. It will “offer early information about the effectiveness of attendance strategies, so that schools, districts, and communities can take actionable steps to improve attendance.” Awesome news! (Cleveland.com, 3/10/26)

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