Gadfly Bites 6/27/25—In Search Of...

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Let’s start with some reaction to that EdChoice voucher ruling from Franklin County judge Jaiza Page (Columbus School for Girls Class of ’02) on Tuesday. First up is Columbus City Schools, whose spokesperson—vice president of the elected school board—goes from “parents can choose whatever options they want” to “it’s about the funding process” to “you never gave us a try” to “you are siphoning away our money” in the course of her three-sentence response. So charming. (ABC 6 News, Columbus, 6/26/25) Barbara Sykes, elected board member for Akron City Schools is more stoic, saying that the ruling gives Akron and other districts who signed on to the legal battle “a fighting chance” to prevail. And while Judge Unicorn clearly did not let her association with private schooling impact her…ummm…judgment at all, we are reminded in this Signal piece that the president of Akron’s elected school board voted no on the motion to join the lawsuit—seeing as her day job is as administrator at a private school and all. Just sayin’. (Signal Akron, 6/25/25) Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost not only promised to appeal the decision immediately, he also released a statement reassuring EdChoice families that the stayed decision allows the program to remain operational and uninterrupted as the appeals process plays out “so parents don’t have to panic or worry about other options”. Very helpful. (Associated Press, 6/25/25)
Lots of lightweight insta-responses to education provisions in the media following passage of the state budget bill—including hopes for line item vetoes to stop certain things from becoming law at the last minute—so we’ll keep discussion in these clips to a minimum until more detailed analyses appear. But this one—covering the reduction in size and composition of the State Board of Education—is pretty good. It covers the big talking points (cutting the board from 19 members to 5, including the elimination of all elected members, and ultimately comprising only gubernatorial appointees), but also discusses a couple of interesting nuances. First is that the contraction will happen slowly. That is, current elected members will be allowed to finish out their terms and then “wink out” like a dying star at the end. (Which could take until 2028…unless they choose to leave sooner on their own.) Second, and most important, is that the five appointed members in the resulting board would represent specific constituencies: a rural school district-related member, a suburban school district-related member, an urban school district-related member, a charter school-related member, and a private school-related member. Feels like an upgrade to me. (Cleveland.com, 6/25/25)
Finally this week: a mysterious little story from the not-so-mysterious hamlet of Tiffin, Ohio, that rings alarm bells for me for a couple of reasons. We are told in the headline that the local Education Service Center (ESC) will remain in its current location for the future. Ummm… How nice. Was there ever any reason for folks to be concerned about that? Of course not. As we look closer, we find out that a charter school sponsored by the ESC and co-located in its building for at least 10 years has been closed in what seems to be a very sudden and unceremonious fashion. Despite the fact that “the transition began during the 2024–2025 school year,” as we are told, if you look at North Central Academy’s website and social media output in recent weeks, there is no mention at all of closure and in fact there are several references to 2025 graduates having a “home here” in the future and information on registration of new students for next school year. As if the leaders weren’t getting ready to close up shop at all. (The only media coverage of NCA’s closure is from one week ago, and that article’s URL doesn’t even link to a proper story anymore.) Reading further, we learn that less than a week after that graduation ceremony, the school is entirely gone and its gym is being demoed to become a machine shop. The ESC has, we learn, given the space over to Vanguard-Sentinel Career and Technology Centers for expansion of their programming. And rather than talking about helping NCA students find new schools for next year, an ESC spokesperson says matter-of-factly that “The majority of kids and staff are staying.” Did they even have a choice? As the old saying goes: “Enquiring minds want to know.” (Tiffin Advertiser-Tribune, 6/25/25)