Gadfly Bites 9/28/26—Ticked

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1. More state report card analysis out there in the news over the weekend. First up: A look at three charter schools in the Toledo area—Horizon Science Academy West, L. Hollingworth School for the Talented and Gifted, and Explorers Academy of Science & Technology—all with ratings of three stars or higher. Nice insights into culture, curriculum, and community at all three. (Toledo Blade, 9/27/26) Next we have a look at five high-flying magnet schools operated by the Toledo City School District, including two (Toledo Technology Academy of Engineering and Toledo Early College High School) with impressive five-star ratings. It is noted prominently that these schools attract students from outside the district and that seats are currently offered on a first-come-first-served basis. To wit: If a student from Toledo applies at the same time as a student from neighboring Sylvania, “They are both equal,” Pre-Med principal Jack Hunter explains. “We’ll get Washington Local kids…who couldn’t get into Washington Local health programs, so they will come to ours… We have students that have driven far because they want what we have that their district doesn’t have… Whoever applies first has the opportunity.” Personally, I get the feeling this is—or will soon become—a less-celebratory situation, as hinted at in later comments from Hunter: “We have to be as fair as we can to make sure that our schools represent the city of Toledo… If you are taking 35 students from Sylvania, leaving out 35 kids from Woodward, you are not representing the city of Toledo taxpayers.” That and the fact that the other high schools in Toledo aren’t anywhere near five-star territory. (Toledo Blade, 9/27/26)
   
   

2. On Friday we discussed the impending announcement of the disposition of 12 buildings recently closed buildings by Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Later that day, we got the promised details. Seven schools being given over to the City of Cleveland by zero-dollar “land swaps”, and a “sale-leaseback” arrangement (translation: still on the district’s books) for two others with “selected partners”. A) Three buildings are unaccounted for in the announcement; perhaps those will be available for charter or private schools to buy; but B) It is briefly noted here that Columbus-based United Schools already offered to buy one of the closed buildings; their pitch was denied; so C) I think our previous prediction for how this process will play out remains accurate. (Cleveland 19 News, 9/25/26) And you don’t have to take my word for it. Here’s what Cleveland mayor Justin Bibb said about it months ago: “I don’t want reckless charters that we can’t hold accountable to take over these school sites.” Charming. Even so: How does he think he can get away without allowing charter/private/STEM school operators to bid on these closed buildings? The city and district are sticking with an interpretation of state law that they believe gives them one year to do these insider deals because, as this piece explains it, “Once school buildings sit empty for a year, it becomes more difficult for districts to skirt the Ohio law that says they must sell their buildings to charter schools first.” Perhaps there’s something special about CMSD’s mayoral-control model I’m missing here, because otherwise the transparent contempt for the General Assembly leaves me agape. (Signal Cleveland, 9/28/26)
   
   

3. So far today, we’ve gone from giving school choice the side-eye to trying to sabotage it publicly. Let’s change it up a bit and hear what the president of Walsh University in North Canton has to say: “What has made higher education in America the best in the world is more than a century of institutional competition. For more than two decades, EdChoice has slowly introduced competition into public education with parents, not government, choosing where their children go to school. When measured against falling public test scores, parents have a responsibility to insist that their tax dollars be put toward better education rather than continuing to fund a worsening system. Policies that oppose school choice oppose competition and better education for our youth. We cannot abandon what we know will work to sustain what we know is failing.” I say! That’s refreshing. Very nice. (Canton Repository, 9/27/26)
   
   

4. Right back into the abyss, however, to end today’s Bites. Chronic student absenteeism remains a huge problem in Ohio, judging by report card data. (It’s declining, but slowly, and remains above pre-Covid levels.) Some hopes are pinned on the state’s new real-time attendance tracking database, but you can color me skeptical. As we hear from Columbus City Schools’ chief of strategy and performance, for 75 percent of last school year, “the district was on track to have a lower chronic absenteeism rate” than the year before. In the spring—despite all the time, effort, policy, and money thrown at the problem—it “ticked back up again” and ended up even higher than the previous year. And instead of focusing on the current year, “We’re all trying to figure out what was going on in the spring that maybe contributed to the that,” he says. Spoiler alert: Even if you sleuth out last year’s issues, you will remain as powerless to address them in April 2027 as you were in April 2026. (Columbus Dispatch, 9/28/26)

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