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- Earlier this month, Governor Mike DeWine popped in to talk to the editorial boards of the various USA Today Network outlets in Ohio. The Akron Beacon-Journal’s editors liked some of what DeWine had to say, but took issue with his characterization of school funding provisions in his budget, calling it an “inaccurate portrayal” and lambasting “cuts” to traditional districts and “boosts” to charter schools and voucher programs. When challenged directly, he told the editors “I’d have to see the data.” You can check out the original op-ed here. Fast-forward three weeks, and here comes Aaron Churchill with the data (and cogent analysis thereof) in his own response to that op-ed. (Akron Beacon Journal, 3/22/25)
- Speaking of seeing the data, I feel sure there is some important information missing in this update of the troublesome financial situation in Trimble Local Schools. Some of it at least we already know from previous news reports covered in these clips back in January: How a former treasurer accidentally misinformed the elected board about funds remaining on a grant. How they then double-spent on that grant to the tune of $1.6 million they didn’t have. And how they have been begging the state of Ohio to declare them in “fiscal emergency” every day since they found out. What we don’t know is why the state still has not done so, despite conducting an audit and despite constant statements of doom and gloom from district leaders. Perhaps they have seen some data that we (and the media covering this story) have not seen. At a minimum, leaders’ assertions in January of imminently missing payroll or defaulting on the electric bill still have not come true. Reductions in force are discussed in some detail here, but it almost reads like a game of chicken: Hoping the state will somehow save them before they have to cut. Fascinating stuff, but raising more questions for me than it answers. (Athens Independent, 3/21/25)
- Staying on topic (when is the topic not money, really?), Cleveland Metropolitan School District is projecting a giant budget hole no later than 2028, and the machinery is gearing up—slowly and clankily—to try and deal with the problem. While CEO Warren Morgan says clearly that “there are a lot of inefficiencies there in really small buildings” and that there are a lot of really small buildings in the district (that is, student enrollment numbers which are far below the capacity of the buildings), his latest proposal to fix the problem actually sounds like more spending to me. All the while dancing around the real and patently obvious solution: consolidating students in the best buildings, right-sizing the workforce, closing the jankiest buildings, and selling those properties ASAP. Given the data—such as CMSD’s history on the subject, closure resistance elsewhere in the state (hello, Columbus!), and the multiple-year lead time—I predict a lot more flawed/ineffective ideas coming down the pike before the obvious solution is proffered…if it ever is. (Signal Cleveland, 3/24/25)
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