Gadfly Bites 6/6/25—Be careful what you opine for

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1. Just one item to talk about today, but it’s a good one: An opinion piece by the editorial board of Cleveland.com maintaining that the state law requiring school districts to bus resident students who use charter, STEM, or private school options is “no longer workable” and should be scrapped in favor of “a radical rethink”. It is a common refrain we have been hearing from district leaders a lot lately and to which I have three snarky comments (you can’t say you don’t get your money’s worth out of old Jeffy) in response: a) The recent voucher expansion hasn’t actually driven too many more kids to private schools—they were already there, as all the haters and all the media outlets that amplify them have been kvetching about for ages now—so why is the work of transporting them so burdensome all of a sudden? You can’t have it both ways. b) As with every other transportation whiner, the ed board members seem to conveniently forget where the money for busing comes from. Pretending that the families of charter, STEM, and private school schools don’t pay the very same taxes that other residents do makes you look biased uninformed silly. c) As I have said numerous times on this topic: Be careful what you wish for… (Cleveland.com, 6/6/25)

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