Columbus, Ohio, mayoral candidate claims school district is shortchanging students
Columbus, Ohio, Republican mayoral candidate William M. Todd has filed a lawsuit in state court on behalf of five taxpayers against the Columbus school board, the Ohio Department of Education, the state Board of Education, and state schools Superintendent Susan Tave Zelman, claiming the school district is shortchanging some of its students. The suit alleges the school district spends thousands less per student at some of its schools, and that violates the Ohio Constitution's guarantee of "thorough and efficient" funding for public education. School board members, including one of Mr. Todd's fellow Republicans, have called the lawsuit a political stunt. "If he's a serious man, if he's a serious politician, he needs to say something about school funding that makes sense," says board President Terry Boyd, who is also standing for reelection on the Republican ticket. Mr. Boyd says per-student spending takes teacher salaries into account, so building-to-building numbers are skewed by transfers of higher-paid, more-experienced teachers to better-performing schools. Board members have discussed an incentive program to keep those teachers in poorer schools, he says. The suit states, "Wide disparities of funding between Ohio pupils in Ohio public schools are as unconstitutional within a particular school district as they are between school districts." Mr. Todd offers the example of Winterset Elementary School on the northwest side, where the district spent $12,507 per student last year, while at Liberty Elementary School on the far east side, the district spent $7,779 per student. Winterset was rated "effective" on the latest state report card; Liberty is on academic watch. "We have to change what's happening in Columbus Public Schools today," says Mr. Todd, who also is calling for a mayoral takeover of the school district. Mayor Michael B. Coleman, the incumbent Democrat, has announced he will be meeting with other Ohio mayors to focus in part on a potential statewide ballot initiative to change the state's school-funding formula.
Columbus Dispatch By Robert Vitale
[Editor’s Note: Mr. Todd’s press release is below.]
Todd campaign press release