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- Some interesting information in this story on the transportation fines levied against large urban districts so far this school year, but I feel like all the numbers stated are very low—especially for Cleveland and Dayton—given the chaos we read about in the media back in the fall. And when we dig into the details of CMSD’s non-compliance, can it really be just four students at one private school? For the whole year? Since the Ohio School Boards Association’s consultant here implies (out loud and on the record) that districts have trouble transporting their own kids within the strictures of the law and since there’s been a history of districts not being required to pay transpo fines for not doing so for school choice kids anyway, I’m assuming that the whole effort has collapsed into a farcical paperwork exercise with no basis in reality. None of these fines will ever be paid (even if $200K is pocket change), no improvements to transportation planning will be made as a result of the rules, and families will experience the usual chaos and uncertainty again next fall if nothing else changes. (Cleveland.com, 5/18/25)
- I think State Rep. Lauren McNally’s statement in this piece covers the transportation situation in Ohio pretty well: “We really have a mess, genuinely, on our hands when it comes to busing.” However, I’m assuming her solution to the mess is the same as Youngstown City Schools superintendent Jeremy Batchelor’s: The state should stop requiring districts to bus students utilizing choice who reside within their borders and give that responsibility to their charter and private schools. Supe does at least remember that the state pays him for all this busing—hence all the rules—but that’s still not enough to make him want to do the job. “I’m really not saying that money is the issue. It’s really what we have to do with that money.” To which I say: Keep kvetching, folks. At some point the state will hear your whining and be moved to address that problem for you (both sides of it) just as you suggest…in a permanent sort of way. (WKBN-TV, Youngstown, 5/16/25)
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