Gadfly Bites 7/31/26—Encomiums for excellent exemplars

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1. In case you missed it, Columbus State Community College recently floated the idea of placing a property tax levy on the November ballot, specifically to fund the Columbus Promise program. That is: Free tuition for Columbus City Schools grads who matriculate there. After some strong pushback, CSCC trustees this week tanked that idea for the foreseeable future. While no one will explicitly connect Fordham senior research fellow Vlad Kogan’s recent downbeat analysis of Columbus Promise’s efficacy and ROI to the outcome of this plan—least of all Prof. Kogan himself—it is nonetheless cited in this coverage of the debacle. (NBC4 News, Columbus, 7/29/26) Lots of folks are pretty steamed about the cancellation of the levy plan—maybe none more so than Columbus’s mayor—because not only will the free tuition program not be expanding, Columbus Promise may also run out of funds after 2027 for the current students using it without an infusion of cash from somewhere. Mayor Andrew Ginther seemed particularly miffed in this coverage about the lack of expansion for “tens of thousands of poor kids” attending the city’s charter and private schools. I’ve been doing this clips gig for a long time and this is the first time in my memory that hizzoner has ever expressed concern about such students for any reason…and believe me when I say he’s had numerous reasons to have done so during his public service career before now. (Columbus Dispatch, 7/30/26)
   
   

2. Cleveland.com’s preternatural (IMO) fascination with Fordham’s new national report on union strength in all 50 states continued this week. (I mean, thanks. But why?) Their latest coverage digs into teacher union endorsements of political candidates here in Ohio and how the Buckeye State findings map onto our current gubernatorial race as they see it. (Cleveland.com, 7/29/26)
   
   

3. Another day, another opportunity to give kudos to Cleveland Metropolitan School District as they navigate the complicated process of closing and consolidating schools to right-size their footprint/budget to their shrinking student population. In fact, multiple opportunities. First up: The district reported this week that their teaching slots are full already, weeks before the start of the new school year, including a roster of in-house subs comprised largely of fully-licensed, career educators recalled from among those initially laid off. Kudos for successfully reaching this enviable level of staff preparedness before August and for communicating it loudly and clearly for district families to know. (Ideastream Public Media, 7/29/26) Second: CMSD staffers have been proactively calling families all summer long—including charter and private school students who receive transportation through them—to confirm who is riding and what busing services they need/want/are eligible for for the fall. You love to hear it. Extra shout out to Signal Cleveland for explaining all the nuances of transportation in this piece and encouraging families who haven’t yet been reached by CMSD to jump on the phone or the website themselves. Will there be hiccups when school starts in a few weeks? Surely there will. But this is how districts should be operating to minimize problems before they arise. In other words: the way things are supposed to work. (Signal Cleveland, 7/30/26)
   
   

4. Speaking of how things are supposed to work (Bad News Edition), leaders of the Lillian and Betty Ratner Montessori School, a 63-year-old private school in suburban Cleveland, announced this week that they will not reopen in the fall. It is undoubtedly a sad (and fraught) time for school families, but enrollment had been dropping for years and the funding loss was too high to sustain for another year. Trying to limp along would have been equally sad and painful. I have no doubt that school staff and trustees will work with all students to help them find a good fit for the fall. Just as they should do. (Cleveland Jewish News, 7/30/26)

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