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- A couple of interesting points in this piece, covering discussion items from the most recent meeting of Columbus City Schools’ elected board. First: It seems that the General Assembly has finally hit upon an “underused school facilities” bill that districts can’t see a way to circumvent. “If Senate Bill 311 goes through unchanged,” Chief of Strategy and Performance Russell Brown told his elected bosses, as many as six CCS buildings “are vulnerable” to being forced into closure/sale by the state. He continued, without a trace of irony, saying that “there is a lot that is not in favor for our students” in the bill. “If we don’t act with urgency, these are properties we could lose.” I’m convinced, sir. Let’s pass that sucker ASAP! The second is that the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) appears far more capable of delivering a student busing system that effectively serves all students—no matter what type of school they attend. Their data wonks presented detailed information to the elected board on every district, charter, private (and, hopefully) STEM schooler living within district boundaries: where they reside, where their schools are, and the most efficient public transit routes between them based on distance, time, and transfer requirements. The context of the presentation doesn’t really even matter. On the evidence of their comprehensive data and planning alone, COTA should immediately be made the full-scale replacement for the district-run transportation; given control all of CCS’s funding, equipment, and staff; and set loose to launch a functioning system for this fall. (Columbus Dispatch, 6/17/26)
- Of course it is unlikely that Columbus will ultimately be transformed for the better in the ways I suggest above: a right-sized footprint for their actual student population; charter/private/STEM schools actually getting first dibs on good, purpose-built facilities; and a transportation system that actually serves families. Not because they are not positive outcomes that smart people are working hard to bring about, but because there are way too many other folks dreaming about halcyon days in the past—a long, loooooong way in the past—who want only to be paid big money to do whatever they want in their district based on these irrational fantasies of yore. If you want proof, check out the two entirely incompatible streams of thought in this Ideastream piece about Cleveland Metropolitan School District. On the one hand, you have Georgetown University’s Marguerite Roza explaining clearly and calmly how CMSD’s current budget disaster was inevitable based on decades-long trends, actually upon them years ago, and was elided by the powers-that-be until it could no longer be ignored. On the other hand, you have a raft of current and former staffers, board members, and administrators—all of whose livelihood still depends on the district continuing undiminished—denying all of those trends, pointing fingers literally everywhere else (charter schools, the General Assembly, other districts with open enrollment, etc.) with no backup, and clinging to the dream of Cleveland somehow returning to its 1950s heyday. How all of this irretrievable nostalgia is meant to serve the actual students of today, I don’t know. But those are the forces in opposition in most of Ohio’s large school districts right now—clearly drawn and clearly destined for a showdown. (Ideastream Public Media, 6/17/26)
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