Gadfly Bites 8/12/26—Summer’s end

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1. As a result of storm damage across the area yesterday, the earliest-starting school district in Franklin County this year—Upper Arlington—will not actually have school today. Maybe tomorrow. Whether that’s good news or bad news depends, I imagine, on your perspective. (Columbus Dispatch, 8/11/26)
   
   

2. Summer is also coming to an end in northeast Ohio, but not before the Let Us Tell You Why You Don’t Hate Vouchers Enough Tour 2026 got to visit Sheffield Lake. I’d say that the overwhelming message of the event was “villainize the competition”, a category that covers a lot of ground. Not only the usual voucher families, state legislators, and charter schools, but also any voters in one’s own district who would dare to vote down a levy request, regardless of reason. Lotta late-season enmity to go around. (The Chronicle, 8/11/26)
   
   

3. Speaking of competition, here’s an interesting and detailed look at a group of districts around Akron that are reducing or ending their interdistrict open enrollment programs, leaving lots of families with big decisions to make and some still scrambling to find seats for their kids this year. The primary reason why most of the closers are doing so is clear: changes to the state funding mechanism for students who live in one district but attend school in another has changed in recent years, resulting in less of a financial boon to receiving districts. (Although one district here says they are closing their borders to lower their enrollment numbers enough so they can shutter an almost-surplus building. Interesting.) Of more interest to me is the Mr. Burns-like response of Akron City Schools, looking to recruit as many of these choice-deprived district-resident kids as they can. The overall numbers seem low to me (“If they’d only respond to our invitations…”), and I can imagine that the thoughts of the Akron mom who opted to pay tuition at Stow-Munroe Falls City Schools because she didn’t have time to get a voucher are pretty prevalent. They all opted out of Akron City Schools for a reason. But the summer is growing short and, notwithstanding the possibility of storm damage delaying the start of school up there (heaven forbid), attendance decisions must be made fast. (Akron Beacon Journal, 8/10/26)

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