Gadfly Bites 3/18/26—Greenbacks, yellow buses, and white heat

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In case you were thinking that—as I was—that Ohio’s effort to create innovative pilot programs to test out improvements in busing was a washout, here’s a piece by my new favorite news outlet to dissuade you….sorta. In it, we learn that both programs did actually get off the ground (one in Montgomery County and one in central Ohio), we find out who they served (13 kids in the Dayton area, most of whom had special needs; 60-some kids in the Columbus area, all attending charter schools), and a little about their prospects for the future. The central Ohio program has already concluded—finding that use of smaller vans was effective at moving students (attendance improved to the tune of 13 more days of school and most families expressed satisfaction with the service) but not particularly efficient (costing five times the amount of traditional yellow buses and burning more than $5 million overall). The Montgomery County program, similarly using smaller vehicles while also utilizing advanced software “to ensure a secure and user-friendly system”, seems a bit more promising. STN reports it is currently planned to continue through the 2027 fiscal year at a cost of about $250,000 annually (after a $500K start up). Fascinating stuff. (School Transportation News, 3/16/26) And in case you were thinking that maybe these pilot programs aren’t important enough to demand all this money and attention, take a look at the serious allegations against Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s transportation system in this piece first—including some squirm-inducing details from parents—and then get back to me. (News5 Cleveland, 3/16/26)
I know that St. Patrick’s Day was yesterday, but here we are talking about the green stuff today. By which I mean money, of course. Case in point: Kettering’s Clerk of Court has an op-ed in the Dayton Daily News today where he lays out his take on where school funding comes from here in Ohio. Not sure his analysis fully passes muster, but it’s better than others I have read. (Dayton Daily News, 3/18/26) Another case in point: Spare a moment to pity the (not actually) poor folks in Lakewood City Schools. They sound so brave about it—and even a little proud—but their elementary school planetarium is in a closet. A closet! Won’t someone have a heart and send them some money, please? Then their kids can ignore the stars and work on their computers in a real planetarium. (Cleveland.com, 3/18/26)
Finally today. School choice haters will often assert that small communities in Ohio lack meaningful education options and use it to cast aspersions on the entire movement. I doubt it’s actually true in all but the most sparsely populated areas, and here is a bit more evidence to back me up. A small, private, Catholic-affiliated Montessori school has been growing slowly but steadily in tiny Steubenville for the last 10 years. That’s right: The same hardscrabble riverside hamlet whose school district has been the subject of white hot, worldwide attention due to its longstanding academic awesomeness also has a private school alternative. Go figure. To the haters: I’m definitely not sorry to burst your bubble. But to all Steubenvilliers (for surely that is what they must be called): I heartily apologize if highlighting this obvious truth somehow draw even more gawkers your way. (Catholic Vote, 3/17/26)