This is the first joint hearing of Columbus City Schools and Columbus City Council, just so happens to be held in City Council Chambers this evening.

I want to recognize the many people who made this joint committee possible.

Our partners at Columbus City Schools, members of the Board of Education, certainly Superintendent Chapman, our educators.

I see CEA is in the House for President Caniglio.

There he is.

Chris Miss Lois at.

There's Ms.

Lois.

I also want to thank our family and especially our students who are at the center of everything that we do to continue to move our city forward and our district forward.

I come to this hearing as a proud graduate of Columbus City Schools, someone whose life was shaped by my time at Fairwood Elementary, Columbus Afrocentric, and Columbus Alternative High School.

She's from Eastmore, and she's gonna say so in a second, I'm sure.

I also came to this hearing as a I'll come to this hearing as a proud parent preparing to entrust Columbus City Schools with my son as he starts kindergarten.

Like so many families across Columbus, I want my child and every child to attend schools that are safe, supportive, and filled with opportunity.

The purpose of this committee is to bring Columbus City Council and the Columbus School Board together to align our priorities and strengthen partnerships on behalf of students, families, and residents.

We know that to be a great city, we need great schools, and we know that to have great schools, we need to be a city committed to their success.

In many ways, the future of our city and the future of our schools are inseparable.

For example, schools cannot effectively plan for enrollment facilities, long-term investments, if they do not know where the growth is occurring and how neighborhoods are changing.

At the same time, strong schools are one of the biggest factors family consider when deciding where to live.

So in that way, city policy on things like housing and transportation, neighborhood development, and even adaptive reuse of buildings are all connected to the health and success of our school district.

Another example is student success.

It starts long before the first bell rings.

It is shaped by whether a family can access affordable pre-K, whether a student's basic needs are being met, whether they can get reliably uh to and and from school, whether they think college is in reach for them, and whether there are opportunities and support throughout their community.

Another example is the safety of our young people.

For many of the folks who become victims of or perpetrators are juvenile crime, one of the first warning signs is school truancy.

Another example is the city's economic development programs that attract jobs or facilitate jobs, which affect the school's funding.

And we could keep going and going.

But these uh are just a few of the overlapping priorities.

My point is this none of these are just school issues or city issues.

These are shared challenges.

As Columbus continues to grow, we will have an obligation to ensure that the growth creates opportunity for every child in every neighborhood.

Growth alone is not progress.

We cannot say Columbus is the next great American success story when our schools are in crisis.

Our students, educators, and families are on the front lines of things like funding pressures, aging facilities, enrollment shifts, and other disparities.

And we know that we at the local level can't control this Ohio General Assembly, which has backed away from fair funding, uh fair school funding plan and is constantly searching for more ways to undermine public education.

But what we can do here at the local level is confront these challenges together with honesty in partnership and a commitment to solutions.

And I think that we've we've all said this before.

For us, nothing is off the table.

When it comes to the well-being of our children, there is no conversation too scary for us.

There is no challenge too big that we will not face head on.

Uh and so uh we look forward to uh starting this conversation in open uh and in transparent way, and uh and I'm really grateful to kick this off.

I'm gonna shout out my two colleagues and then uh Dr.

Manima have you shout a chair colleagues.

Is that okay?

That's how I keep my job.

Um I want to shout out to my far left is Councilmember Melissa Green and uh to my near left, Councilmember Lordez Brosta de Padilla.

Welcome.

Oh, well, he well, and my colleague to the right and my partner in the formation of this committee, the chair of the workforce education and labor committee, President Pro Tim, Rob Dorrance.

Um now it's my uh honor, uh, and it's a great honor uh to turn the floor over to our uh co-chair, Dr.

Antoinette Miranda.

Thank you.

Um he pretty much said it all.

Um but what I want to say is that when I got on the board and became president, one of my goals was to look at how can we start partnering so that we would not be in isolation.

And too often we operate in silos, and it means you don't get things done.

And so it's really important to do collaboration.

Early on, we met with city council.

Um they expressed interest in working with us.

We're very excited about um partnering.

We have a number of projects which we're gonna talk about today that we already do, but this gives us an opportunity to look much more closely at those projects to see is any is there anything we want to do differently.

And as um President Harden said, um, there are a number of things that we can begin to really hung hone in on and be able to make a difference.

So this is I really see as an opportunity, like you said, nothing's off the table.

Um we're open and we're curious about hearing what the community has to say.

I would also say I would encourage you because he talked about this.

We did do a town hall that is on the CCS website.

I would encourage you to look at that.

It really talks about the changing demographics of Columbus, and it really gives a um a view that I don't think many of the citizens have in terms of where our population is growing and where our population is shrinking, where we have kids and where we don't have kids.

So I look forward to this.

My goal has always been to see how we can make Columbus City Schools stronger, and I think having this partnership with City Council will help us be able to do that.

The people I have with me is um my vice president Sarah Ingalls, and of course, Dr.

Chapman, our superintendent, and Mr.

Ryan Cook, our treasurer.

And I believe we have board member Katzemeyer back there, and board member Kennedy back there.

Thank you.

Is there anybody else?

Okay.

All right, let's get started.

Good evening, everyone.

Good evening, everyone.

Love that.

Um, thank you again to President Um Council President Harden, our city council members who are here with us today, um, Dorans Green and Barosa de Tadilla.

Thank you for hosting us, hosting this meeting here.

Um, to our board members who are president present, our board leadership, um, all of our CCS staff who are in the audience.

Thank you for being here, our labor um partners and union president John Caniglio, Lois Carson.

Thank you for being here, and to all of our community members.

Uh, we are very, very excited to have this conversation with you all tonight.

Tonight is our inaugural joint committee hearing between Columbus City Schools and Columbus City Council, and it represents a shared commitment to stand together for our students, our families, and our neighborhoods.

In Columbus City Schools, we are always choosing to put the needs of our students front and center.

We will continue to fight and advocate for our students each and every day, and we are clear that failure is not an option when it comes to their future.

That is why fair school funding must remain at the center of this conversation.

Our district is facing real challenges tied to shrinking state support, budget constraints, aging infrastructure, and the growing needs of the students and families we serve.

Tonight you'll hear from our chief financial officer, Ryan Cook, whose work has been critical in helping our community understand the facts, the impact, and the difficult decisions facing public education today.

But this work is bigger than a budget.

It is about opportunities, it is about safety, attendance, facilities, community development, and bringing the right resources closer to students and families as we are beginning to see through efforts like the Northland Community Campus School Pilot.

This committee cannot just be about conversation, it must be about action.

Our students deserve the very best, safe schools, strong support, high quality learning opportunities, and a district that families are proud to choose.

That is the work that's before us, and we are ready to do it together.

So as we began this work, I ask each of you to keep the needs of our CCS students and families at the center of every decision, every conversation, and our next steps.

They are counting on us, and we must meet this moment together.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Superintendent.

Thank you to Dr.

Miranda.

To get us started this evening, we're going to ask for a financial and programmatic overview, and that's going to be led by Kirsten SSA from the senior legislative assistance in Columbus City Council.

She will be followed by Columbus City School Chief Financial Officer Ryan Cook, who would give a Columbus City School Financial Overview.

Kirsten.

Good evening.

Thank you, President Harden, Board President Dr.

Miranda, Chair Dorans, and Vice President Ingalls for having me tonight.

Thank you so much to the community members that are here for this conversation.

As shared, I will be going over some of the partnerships and connections between Columbus City Schools and the City of Columbus.

Just looking at some illustrative examples across themes where we've been able to partner together historically.

So if my slides are up, I will share those.

Yes.

So here's my scope for tonight.

I'm just looking at current partnerships and connections.

I'm not looking too far back.

So I will go back as far as 2020 to talk a little bit about the partnerships during the pandemic, but I won't be looking back further than that.

So things like school resource officers are not in my presentation.

I'm not looking at every single program.

There are so many ways that the city and the school district partner, and it would be a very long night if I tried to cover all of that.

So I'm just looking at some examples.

And then additionally, the city does things like the Summer Youth Program, which serve many, many youth across the city, and most of those youth are students in the Columbus City School District.

But I'm not looking at those broader things.

I'm really looking at direct partnerships between the city and the school district.

So with those caveats, I will dive into some major highlights that I want to share, and then we'll kind of go theme by theme after that.

So I'm gonna start with the early start Columbus program, which the mayor's office of education administers, and Columbus City Schools, as many of you know, is the city's largest partner in this work.

So for this pre-K early education program, Columbus City Schools is the largest provider of slots within that program, depending on the year, and you can you can see my bar chart of slots every year.

Um the program goes back further than 2020, I should say.

I just that's how far this look back is.

Um depending on the year, the schools provided between a third and half of the total slots within early start, and um, you can see the funding amount that the city contracted with the schools for for this program.

So that is one major partnership.

Additionally, of course, the Columbus Promise Program, many, many partners associated with this.

Columbus State, I know I can, the Columbus Foundation, and more.

Um, and of course, the Columbus Promise Program has increased college going, college enrollment, college success among program participants.

The uh revenue sharing uh slide that I have here shows the amount of funding that is income tax revenue from economic development incentives shared from the city to specifically Columbus City School District.

There are other school districts that this that the city shares income tax revenue with.

So this is something that is required under the Ohio Revised Code, Section 5709, and essentially for property tax abatements that the city authorizes, when those projects create more than a million dollars in new payroll, or more than two million dollars in new payroll if it's uh a different type of incentive, a CRA instead of uh enterprise zone agreement.

The city takes 50% of that new income tax revenue that they're receiving from the new payroll, and that is distributed per the Ohio revised code with the school district, and this doesn't impact the school district's state funding formula.

Um the amount of agreements that are relevant to this requirement, and then the total funding is on this slide.

So that is what that chart is.

And then the last theme that I wanted to highlight, as mentioned is just some of the partnerships that happened during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We know that the city and the school district came together in an emergency situation and partnered together.

And there are others example, other examples of this as well.

When there was the gap in SNAP funding last year, the city and the school district came together to partner to address that as well.

But the city authorized over $7 million, mostly in Federal CARES Act dollars to support students learning from home with their Chromebooks and iPads.

Columbus Public Health served an essential advisory function during this time and offered vaccines, of course.

The Office of Education funded over 150 learning extension centers throughout the city during this time.

There was a credit recovery program that was, I think, nearly $4 million of American Rescue Plan Act dollars that the city received that were dedicated towards credit recovery with what at the time was the workforce board, and I know I can.

And then I think the Digital Equity Coalition also sprang out of this time as well in that partnership and ensuring that students and families across the city had access to high-speed internet for learning opportunities.

So moving into some examples across themes.

Of course, I wanted to start with academic connections and partnerships.

The city's middle school after school program serves a variety of youth across the city, but seven of those programs are hosted in schools, and ten are in community sites, and the schools also help support transportation for students that are going from their middle school day into an after-school program.

Student success stories is a great example of how the city looks to support Columbus City School students with those stores providing hygiene products and school supplies for free through that work.

And then there's a stormwater education program that I learned about with Franklin County and many other partners that is not just an academic partnership and connection, but of course also a sustainability connection as students are learning about stormwater in the classroom.

Transportation is a really important area of partnership, of course.

And I think the example that I most wanted to highlight here was the city's applications to the Ohio Department of Transportation for their safe routes to school program.

So I've listed a number of areas and nearby schools where the city has submitted applications and done work with ODOT and with the school district in order to support safer sidewalks in school areas.

There's an over $4 million project near Independence High School and Liberty Elementary that took place as just a more recent example.

But something else I learned in my research is that the Department of Public Service purchases school speed limit signs and the flashers that remind you that it is time to slow down and installs those.

And so there's those day-to-day operational things that are happening as well.

And the area of health and safety, of course, there's many examples.

I can't say that enough, but the summer food program is a great example where the city has been partnering with the school district for years with a grant from the state to provide food to children throughout the city throughout the summer, breakfast, lunch, and a snack.

A partnership with Nationwide Children's Hospital and Celebrate One provides teen pregnancy prevention education in schools.

And in 2025, council authorized a non-traditional education learning center partnership with the YMCA, with the Hilltop Library, with West High School as a youth violence prevention measure and as a graduation measure.

When it comes to infrastructure and land use, first of all, I learned that we get to use each other's faces a lot where the schools will be able to use a city space and the city will often use a school space, and that seems to be happening all the time.

And that's not on my slide, but I saw a lot of evidence of it during my research.

The Department of Recreation and Parks is working on building the Northeast Indoor Aquatic Center.

And when I was reading the ordinance that pertained to that, the department indicated that their intent is for CCS students to be able to use that center during the day.

I believe that CCS transferred the parcel in which this is being built to the city.

And so students will be able to use that during the day, and then that's a model that they hope to continue for future recreation and aquatic centers.

And then, of course, I mentioned this earlier.

The city implements the community reinvestment area and enterprise zone agreement policy, and that has property tax and revenue implications for schools and other levying agencies.

City's Department of Technology also provides phone services for the schools.

And so these are just some of the day-to-day ways in which we're working together and contracting together in order to keep serving our community and keep operating.

Lastly, there are a number of advisory relationships on this slide, and which we are having conversations like the one that is being had today.

Some examples of this are the superintendents coalition.

The mayor has a deputy chief of staff who is an executive on loan to CCS right now.

CCS and Coda have a joint committee where they're working on transportation issues and having those conversations, and the city is part of that committee.

So there's a number of ways in which we are formally and informally connected as partners and working together for our community.

That is a little overview that I wanted to share.

Thanks for your time.

I'm happy to take questions if you guys want.

Thank you, Kirsten and Kristen.

I will um open it up to my colleagues if there are any questions.

I I don't have a question, but I will say just a quick comment that just looking over that exhaustive list of uh cross relationships, city funding supported and with the growing um realization of the tighter budgets of both the district and the the city.

I was just thinking what other opportunity in a committee like this for us to evaluate and hear from the district to prioritize are these the types of programs that you want us funding?

Um, what levels of funding?

I was just thinking as as we are starting to as we go into tighter budgetary seasons, um, hearing directly from the district about uh the city's uh partnerships uh will be more and more critical.

Are there any questions from my colleagues to Kirsten uh on the city's investment as it stands?

If not, then we'll keep uh continue on uh to hear a financial uh update from Columbia City School's uh financial uh chief financial officer Ryan Cook.

Thank you, President Harden, honorable council members, Dr.

Miranda.

Thank you, President Harden, honorable council members, board president, Dr.

Miranda, and board members.

It's a privilege to be here tonight to update the community on some of the challenges that we face as a district.

So, how did we get here?

Um, it's no secret that we have financial challenges with our budget.

Dr.

Chapman and her team just executed on a $50 million reduction in our general fund budget that was painful, catastrophic on the educational side.

Current state of affairs.

There's a system imbalance in Ohio.

Right now, we face a ballot initiative to eliminate property taxes that will impact not just Columbus City schools, but all government agencies and municipalities across the state of Ohio.

This is a direct consequence of intentional state level policy choices that have systematically shifted the state's burdens to homeowners.

In 1975, the property tax burden was 53.9% for business and 46.1% residents.

Excuse me, Ryan.

Sorry, can you move the mic a little closer?

Sure.

The acoustics in here are not great, and my vintage years are having a hard time hearing you down here.

So I can't that's much better.

Thank you.

So in 1975, the property tax burden was 53.9% business, 46.1% residential.

In 2023, the tax burden was 32 and a half percent business and 67.5% residential.

That shift, compounded by business tax abatements since 1975, which have spiked from 5.7 billion dollars to 26.6 billion dollars in the state of Ohio, has placed tremendous pressure on homeowners.

This chart illustrates what I would call the property tax teeter-totter.

When taxes are lower for our business community, they're higher for our communities.

What does this mean?

Residents are being forced to shoulder a disproportionate share of the cost for public education because of state level tax cuts.

These tax cuts have created a gap that have to be backfilled by our local property taxes.

This is what I refer to as legislative disinvestment.

To me, this is one of the most powerful slides in school funding right now.

Most of us are familiar with the DeRolf case where school funding was deemed unconstitutional in the state of Ohio.

At that point in time in 1999, the state share was 47%.

In 2025, it's at 38%.

And by 2027, it's projected to decline to 32%, all while still being declared unconstitutional.

1971, the personal income tax.

House Bill 471 in 1975, it created a stable statewide revenue stream that would fund social services and increased aid to public education.

It provided direct property tax relief to homeowners.

The chase to a flat tax in our last biennium budget, House Bill 96, completely abandons equity.

Under the present model, an Ohio millionaire pays the exact same 2.75% income tax rate as a school teacher or child care worker.

Of note, Ohioans earning between 26,000 and 100,000.

The tax rate has already been at 2.75% for several years.

Thus, the move to a flat tax was not middle class tax relief, but rather a windfall for Ohio's more affluent residents.

This deliberate dismantling of the 1971 income tax coupled with disinvestment in public education has ignited the taxpayer revolt on property taxes in Ohio.

Legislative disinvestment.

This is the result of a two-decade tax giveaway era.

Since 2005, tax reductions have created an astounding $18.6 billion gap in revenue.

This is forcing schools to decide between insolvency or asking our residents for additional support via levies.

The chronology of legislative disinvestment.

House Bill 66 in 2005 reduced income tax brackets by 21% and eliminated the tangible personal property tax.

That was an elimination of 20% of public school tax collections.

The 2010s, a 10% income tax cut in 2013 paired with language making it harder for seniors to qualify for homestead exemptions.

2015, a 6.3% reduction in income tax, pushed rates lower than 1972.

House Bill 166 in 2001 resulted in a 4% across the board income tax rate reduction.

House Bill 110 in 2021 was another 16.8% reduction for those earning over 221,000 and was three times lower than those in lower tax brackets.

House Bill 33 and House Bill 96.

2023 and 2026.

It collapsed the remaining brackets and lowered the rate to 3.125% in 2025 before reaching a flat 2.75% in 2026.

This resulted in a reduction of 2.3 billion dollars in revenue for public education.

Combine that with just over a billion dollars being shifted from public schools to private and other nonpublic agencies.

And you can see why not only Columbus City Schools, but public education in Ohio is facing severe budget shortfalls.

The state's share of K-12 revenue is 32.2 percent.

This ranks us 45 in the nation.

The local tax burden has climbed to 53.1, ranking Ohio fifth in the nation.

Our legislatures often tell me that school funding formulas don't work.

They don't work because they don't fund them.

I call this, as some of us in education may remember, the race to the top.

This is the race to the bottom.

This chart represents our February 2026 five-year forecast.

And as you can see, we're still on a downward trend.

That very chart includes the $50 million reduction that Dr.

Chapman and her team had to painfully make.

Staffing reductions, the most critical component of any student's education, $25.9 million.

Total budget reductions for next fiscal year beginning July 1, $50 million.

We're here tonight to talk about Columbus City schools, but I think this paints a larger picture of the woes in Ohio with the funding coming out of our legislature.

Toledo, 68 million dollars in reductions.

Dayton, 31.5 million, Cleveland, 150 million over two years.

Canton, 17 and a half million.

Cincinnati, 17.7.

And we talk a lot about numbers.

That's my business, but each one of those numbers is a student.

A student that the state of Ohio puts a focus on for workforce development, continually talks about how the investment in students is going to be the growth for our economy, but yet they will not fund the fair school funding plan.

Again, I want to close with this graphic of state share of school funding in the state of Ohio.

The fact that we're discussing a decline in 2027 to 32% is unconscionable.

And with that, President Harden might conclude my presentation.

Thank you, Mr.

Cook, for the presentation.

Are there any questions about my colleagues?

I have a question.

I'm sorry.

Did you go ahead?

So, Ryan, I have a question for you in particular.

When and this is something that I think, you know, putting all the cards on the table, thinking about the future of Columbus City schools and how do we continue to support the school system?

And you know, we went through revenue sharing, we went through what we went through.

Can we talk a little bit about tax abatements for a second?

Because I know that this is a pretty consistent pain point as we talk about this, and something that we certainly think about.

Can you talk about what that revenue looks like and what it would look like if first of all, how much of the revenue we bring in, and if if we remove those tax abatements, I I I want to hear from you.

Is it helpful or is it hurtful?

And like what do those revenues look like over time?

Yeah, that's a great question.

I don't want to speak for Dr.

Chapman or the board, but I think I will on this one.

Um, any additional revenue we can get in the classroom is critical.

Um, auditor Stinziano's done a study on this, and the impact of tax abatements for Columbus City schools is between 80 and 84 million dollars a year.

So when you look at the scope of these reductions, let's just hypothetically say we have another 50 million.

That that's a hundred million.

That takes a big chunk of that sting in the classroom that we're impacting away and allows us to work with a smaller number that's more manageable.

But right now I would say we're in structural deficits.

Tax abatements are clearly a piece of that.

Um, I've heard council presidents say that everything's on the table.

I know that this is development uses these heavily, so we have to have carefully crafted conversations around this, but it is a revenue loss for the district and one that directly impacts our students in the classroom.

Thank you.

I I and I wanted to say this before.

I think you know, it's interesting because I am a Columbus kid, born and raised, went to um Columbus City Schools, work for an organization that has worked at Columbus City schools for you know over several decades.

And you know, I think as it it's interesting to me because I think that we're at a very unique time where we have an opportunity and we have the political will where we have not had it before, right?

And that's what makes this so unique.

So when we talk about thing everything being on the table, it truly is as we think about we just we didn't have all of the conditions for success.

And what I mean by success is opportunities for us to really come together to say, how do we think about the future of CCS and how do we continue to invest in our district?

And I think as we have these conversations, I mean, to the point that council president made, I think everything really is on the table, and I think we have to look at everything that we're doing.

We can't continue to operate the way we've been operating, right?

And we see that, we see that.

And I think that when you have a state legislature that is not working with you, um, you know, I mean, it and and you know, something that was very dear to me was you know, thinking about our buildings and thinking about we built these buildings in the middle of neighborhoods, and we're essentially gutting neighborhoods when we leave these buildings open and empty.

And so I think we have to think about how do we get real creative real quick, not just to fill the financial gaps, but the but the effects that it has on whole communities, not just our kids, but also the entire communities that you know.

I grew up in a house six houses away from my high school, two blocks away from my middle school, three blocks away from my elementary school, right?

It takes off an essentially an entire city street.

And so if that closes, I don't know what becomes of that neighborhood, right?

And so I think that um looking at where can we lean in and looking at the places where where do we make those adjustments is really important, and I think also hearing that from you all because I think a lot of times when we talk about some of the issues, I think it this is why this is so important that we're a unified front that we can say that because I think a lot of people sometimes are surprised that you know there's a there's a public meeting that everyone can go to and we can see when we have tax abatements and how many they are, and if we cancel them and you know, hearing that it is a benefit and when is it not a benefit and how do we change that is something that I think again is on the table for us to continue to look at.

Yeah, no, I appreciate that question and the and the follow-up on that.

Thank you very much.

Vice President Engle.

Thank you, Treasurer Cook, and thank you for giving this presentation.

Um, I just I love this presentation because I think that it shows so much of the pressure that we're under, but it doesn't encompass all of the pressure that we're under, certainly.

And um public schools right now are living a death by a thousand cuts in very in in various forms.

Um the pressure is coming from different angles.

Not only is the state funding us at a smaller proportion historically and unconstitutionally, but we are also having more trouble being able to collect upon um the dollars that we are uh able to pass with our levy when our when our community does give us that green light and does say we we trust in our schools and we believe in our schools.

Um the legislature continues to pass legislation that makes that harder to do, and um, that is certainly a concern.

So the pressure is really coming from all angles.

Um, one thing that I do think that I try to explain into the the community a bit um is House Bill 990, which is an old house bill that makes it harder to get the inflationary gains that the schools are facing.

And so I was one hoping that you could explain a little bit about uh the pressures that we're feeling with not only keeping up with inflation um but but collecting some of that revenue that we are able to pass uh specifically because um people don't cut costs for public schools when we have to pay for things we pay the same market price that everybody else pays, and our labor costs are the same as well, and our staff deserve to live um and have lives of dignity um for the work that they perform in our district.

So if you could explain a little bit about that, yeah, no, I think it's a great question.

So one of the pressures we face with the fair school funding plan is the fact that we're operating on 2022 cost sets.

And when I say cost sets, I mean the the cost of what it took to educate a student back in 2022.

So we're stuck there.

It's now 2026.

We've all certainly seen what gas prices are doing, we've seen what the prices of food are doing, we've seen what the cost of rent is, and we as a school district to board member Ingall's point, we're not getting that inflationary growth.

So our expenses continue to rise.

Meanwhile, our revenue falls further behind because of that inflationary pressure.

So that's just one of the thousand cuts that she referenced.

And then they're continually looking for ways to restrict how that revenue that the community support us with, supported us with, is collected.

And they're doing that legislatively.

So we really truly are just continuing to fall further and further and further behind on the funding that we have available and allocated in the classrooms where it matters most.

And I think that's really what we're here to focus on.

Are the students?

I mean, they're they're the next city council member, the next teacher, the next union president.

And if the legislature continues to strip away at that, what they can do is gonna fall further and further behind, and it severely restricts what Dr.

Chapman and her team can do in the classroom.

So those thousand cuts are painful.

Thank you.

Councilmember Green.

Um, yeah, Treasurer, I was hoping, can you just help me understand a little bit more about what you're meaning by changes in the way that revenue is able to be collected?

Like, are you talking about the actual mechanisms or like not being able to chase down funding in collections or you know, I get a newbie?

All of our levies, great question.

All of our levies at Columbus City School are continuing.

They've taken they're they're fighting to take away that avenue.

They don't want levies to pass.

They're saying, you know, if you want additional revenue, go to your communities.

But at the same time, we've seen property tax reform.

We've got House Bill 186, we've got 333, we've got all of our inside millage, the growth is capped now at inflationary CPI, which sounds good on the surface, but remember we're still funded at 2,022 levels on cost sets.

So they've really tightened up what those operating revenues are for us, and they continue to chip away at that.

We're also facing this the existential threat, I'll call it of property tax reform here in Ohio with that.

The the group up north that just wants to axe Ohio taxes.

And again, these are students in the classroom.

We've all been there.

Somebody paid for my public education, and I'm darn glad they did.

But the legislature continues to disinvest, not only on the fair school funding plan, but then continually looking at ways to cut us a thousand and one times with how do they reform what we can do with levies.

Um it's you know, I there's talk out there, it's no longer just 51%, you're good to go.

We're gonna make it 60%.

Where does it stop?

Where does the community lose their voice where the majority rules?

So it's constantly evolving.

There's a barrage of bills.

I know they're on summer break right now, but in the fall it's coming right back at us, and then we've got a budget cycle that's gonna ramp up next calendar year.

So we're continually under the gun with these initiatives that just continue to strip away the revenue streams that we have as a district.

Thank you.

Are there any other questions?

Uh President Tim.

Yeah, Mr.

Cook, you mentioned this in your presentation, but I just wanted to make sure that it was highlighted for folks in this room.

So there has been a an attempt uh to put together a ballot initiative to abolish property taxes in Ohio.

Correct.

And again, I think you can see from the charts why some folks may be frustrated with what they're paying in property taxes given the burden that's been shifted to people in the community, right?

But what would happen to Columbus City schools if that constitutional amendment was put on the ballot and passed?

What would functionally happen to the districts?

It's a great question.

Uh, we've run this back and forth, and I would say napkin math today, since the question was asked.

We would have about six months uh that we could survive.

Again, I think there's some debate on constitutionality, et cetera, with respect to this, but we would the music would stop for us.

The the vast majority of our funding comes from our local tax base.

The five-year forecast is online, you can see that.

We would run out of time.

Um, there would simply not be enough revenue coming in to sustain operations.

So to put that in perspective, I think you know, as a city, police and fire, you call 911 and it just rings.

You want what's best for your children.

There's nobody standing in front of them to educate that student anymore.

That's really what's at stake.

Thank you.

And and I want to be very clear about that.

If there was no CCS, where do our kids go?

I mean, like, where do our kids go?

You know, I think that's the uh I I think first of all, I think we need to do a better job of educating people about where their tax sellers go, because I just had a conversation with the neighborhood the other day that did not realize that their property taxes were going to the schools and actually responded with, well, my kids are grown, and I'm like, well, lots of other people's aren't.

We continue to have children, and where would they go?

You know, and I think that that's just a critical, like where do they go?

So I I think yes, we need to alleviate pressure for people, and there has to be smarter mathematicians than me to figure that out.

But like, where do our kids go?

That's really the question that people need to ask themselves because that's where we're at, and that's the part that is to your point so scary in this entire conversation.

Like if it's relief now for bigger problems down the road, and at some point people are going to feel that tax pressure somewhere, somehow.

Mr.

Cook, can you um talk about um how much of our budget is property taxes?

And I think the other important thing is how much of our budget is personnel.

Yeah, great question.

So we're in the people business.

Um, we've got a lot of wonderful teachers here tonight, staff members.

Um, it's approximately 80 plus percent of our budget is personnel.

Um it it takes a village, as they say.

So we're very heavily reliant on people.

So any time that our revenue shrinks, we continue to see that pressure.

And that's why Dr.

Chapman and her team had to make a budgetary reduction this spring.

We're gonna feel that impact.

It's painful.

When you look in terms of property taxes uh as our overall budget, we're we're now gonna be at about the 10% share, the constitutional minimum when it comes to state funding.

So again, we're gonna be in that 80 to 90 percent range, a little bit on the federal side, but as we talked about those thousand cuts, we have pressure coming at the federal level as well.

So we're heavily reliant on our local tax base.

And the community's been very generous with us.

But as I highlighted earlier, the more that we shift that burden to our residents, the more pain that they feel.

And and nobody's nobody's coming to save us.

That that point that uh Dr.

Moranda just asked around you know the cuts.

I think that there is still some ignorance out there that this is still a spending issue when this is a pure revenue issue.

Uh you said that probably this fall folks will will feel the the cuts.

There's no more flesh left.

You're at the bone, right?

In terms of cutting.

Like and if you have to cut more, like what does that I'm just trying to drive that home that from here on out, cuts mean X.

Yeah, I think it's a it's a wonderful question.

Um, it's painful.

Um, Dr.

Chapman can hop in at any point in time, but I I don't want to minimize the impact that we made of the reductions right now.

Um, I think council president's point is noted.

I mean, we had some attrition, we had some retirements, but we're really at the end of the finish line on that.

And again, there's gonna be students that come back this fall, and their favorite teacher, their favorite cook, their favorite custodian, their favorite bus driver is not going to be here for them.

So to your point, with 80 plus percent of our budget is staff, the next is just gonna be that much more difficult.

Um, so we're we're gonna feel it.

The community's gonna feel it.

And that's that's why we're here tonight to everyone's point to try to get creative and start this work and dialogue.

Well, I want to continue uh as moving.

I think that the between the city's uh presentation on um high-level investments that we we make towards schools and um Officer Cook's uh presentation on just the plight uh and that that they are dealing with.

Um we are close to level setting at our at our big challenge.

Our funding challenge, our resource challenge, um, and uh that enough would bring us to this table.

Would necessitate probably a bigger table with other partners saying what else can we do as well.

Um this next presentation is kind of shifting the the turning the corner.

It's it's uh one of those opportunities that shows a potential um potential pathways forward uh and what collaboration can look like.

Um I actually want to ask uh Press Potum to introduce this part, if is that okay just to tell a little bit more.

Sure.

Um so we had the opportunity um to get together with many of the folks that are at this table here tonight to take a field trip.

Um it's actually fun.

We don't get to do that very often at Columbus City Council, so uh we enjoyed it a day getting down uh to have the opportunity to go visit one of our neighbors down south in the in Cincinnati, uh who have been running a very innovative program within their schools for for a number of years, going back two decades, in which um that district was uh in a different position, but a a one in which they took a moment of crisis and decided to try and figure out a way in which they could make their schools uh more reflective of the neighborhoods that they were in, inviting the community in.

Um, many things that our our current district already does, but really formalize this in a way in which um that I think really allows a community and a school district to be intertwined in a way that is supportive of our young people, but also supportive of the residents within that neighborhood that wants to support those kids.

And it was a really a great way to see what the what a mature communities and schools program uh can achieve.

And I'm very, very proud here in in Columbus that the Columbus Education Association and the district uh worked together in their last uh contract negotiations to bring about a pilot here in Columbus, in which council just passed legislation recently in order to help financially support, in order to help to move the needle to help to look at ways that we can um help to replicate what is going on in Cincinnati in a very meaningful way.

Um but we wanted to allow our folks uh to hear from those folks down in Cincinnati uh that have done a remarkable job in implementing this community and schools model uh for us to look at in order to allow ourselves to see what success looks like, um, not only for those kids, but also those folks that live in those neighborhoods that those schools call home.

So, with that, I want to make sure that do we have Annie or are you with us right now?

I am.

Can you hear me?

I can.

Welcome to we can hear you very loudly, so thank you.

Um sorry.

That is the level of excitement that we should bring to this discussion.

So I want to turn it over to and Annie was very generous with her time and her team's time a couple of months ago.

And I again want to thank you for making time to be here with us tonight virtually.

Again, to talk about what community schools has meant uh in Cincinnati and sort of the broader impact.

So thanks for being here with us.

Sure.

No, thanks for having me.

And um, sorry I'm not there in person actually, but I had some parent responsibilities that uh the travel time didn't really work with our schedule.

So um happy to be here virtually.

Um, talk for a couple minutes, and when you're your team and the combination of people who came up, um we got to spend a whole day together.

So this is just a little snippet um of what I can at least try to give as a little teaser to everybody that's in the room about the work that we've done.

And even I've been listening in, of course, to the conversation that's been happening so far, and there's been a couple words that have come up that um at the very beginning, there was some conversation around the inextricable link between schools and the city, right?

And so the fact that you guys are all in the same room is a big deal because the fact remains is that you rarely see a successful school in the middle of a family neighborhood or vice versa.

So we have to have these conversations together to really all row in the same direction to meet the goals that each community wants and needs.

So I'll introduce myself real quick.

I'm Annie Boganchutz.

I'm the executive director of the community learning center institute in Cincinnati.

So we partner with Cincinnati Public Schools on the development and the implementation of what we call as community learning centers.

The term community schools is used nationally in our state.

You might know that community schools means um charter school.

And so community learning center is the term that we use locally.

So just if you hear some terms that are in interchange throughout my conversation, um, that's why.

Um, so I'm gonna share some slides and um we'll get into this conversation.

So one second.

And I'll pull this up.

Okay.

So, well, this first slide's not terribly exciting.

Um, but it's just the intro slide saying who I am.

But what I will say to this is I am the executive director, and as it was mentioned in the comments, um, introducing this part of the presentation, is that we've been doing this work since 1999 or 2000, and I've actually been doing this work since 2001.

So 25 years of experience goes into what I'm talking to you guys about today.

I've worked at a site level, I've worked at a capacity building level, and now obviously is the leader of the community learning center institute.

So I hope that um my experience and my knowledge can um help inform this conversation and the work that you guys are doing moving forward.

So, with that being said, um I started in actually it was already mentioned, but start off this conversation with crisis, there's opportunity.

Um, and so we always joke that we never want a good crisis to pass us.

Um, and so with that, we did have a crisis in that 1999-2000.

So the federal government actually said that the state of Ohio had the worst actual facilities.

So if we're just talking about bricks and mortar of a building, not actually what was happening inside the buildings, but the actual facilities.

And then Ohio came out and said that Cincinnati was the worst.

And so with that, there was also the the problem and the issue that um our academics didn't look great, our graduation rate didn't look great.

And the truth of the matter was in the 70s, Cincinnati public schools had 90,000 students.

And at in that 1999, 2000 time frame, the projection for 2010 was that we would be down to 28,000 students.

So that's a chicken before the egg conversation.

We can say, you know, there was issues with the city, there was issues with the schools, but either way you want to slice it.

We had some crisis going on.

Our buildings were falling apart.

There wasn't a lot of trust in our schools, whether it was with the city and the school, but people were flipping were leaving the city or leaving the schools when their kids turned five.

So with that being said, there was an opportunity to rebuild and renovate our schools.

But the federal funds were there to help support it, but we really had to have local funds to support it as well.

Well, with that, um, I said there wasn't a lot of trust.

People were leaving Cincinnati Public Schools.

And so it was like, okay, let's run a levy to support, and as you guys have talked about funding, um, but to support the rebuilding and renovation of the schools, or poor kids or poor buildings.

Um, but the problem was is only about 10% of our voters had connection to our um to our schools with school age children choosing to send their kids to Cincinnati public.

Um, 19% of voters basically have school age kids.

That's a national number that was also reflective in Cincinnati.

And so with that, we knew that we needed to engage the broader audience, not just the kids, not just the families who had kids in our schools, because the first time the levy passed, it failed miserably for all of those reasons, right?

Only about 10% of voters have kids connected to the schools.

It was like, why should we put, you know, dollars and invest in the schools, especially when people were making other choices outside of Cincinnati Public Schools at the time.

The uh the numbers, our enrollment was going was going down.

Um, and so at that time, our superintendent had enough innovation to say, hey, we have to figure out how to engage the entire community to care about the success of our school, whether you're a business owner, whether you're a grandma that lives down the street, um, in the comments earlier when you said that there was somebody who said, Why don't we school-aged kids?

I mean, that was the truth.

That was how do we make sure that everyone cares about the success of their schools, whether it's property value, you know, the list goes on and on.

If you have a church in the community, if you have a Catholic or parochial school, you need parishioners, right?

So, with that, um, we we looked across the country, not actually at the community learning center model that we're going to talk about here in a couple minutes, but it was really just about how to engage the broader community to care about the success of the school.

Looked all over the country and community schools or what we call community learning centers, bubbled to the top as a strategy to do that, to utilize the school as the center of the community, offering the programs and services that that community wants and needs, not a top-down approach that says you should have this and you shouldn't, and you should have that, but actually, what does your individual community want and need, led by a community, a deep community engagement process?

So that then gets us to this um the opportunity to run the new levy as rebuilding and renovating the schools as community learning centers.

Um that was the I call it the um oh no moment, um, because then that levy did pass, and it was like, oh my goodness, now we are doing a district-wide initiative of community learning centers.

Um, and so at that moment, between 2000 and 2006, we had the opportunity for deep community engagement, neighborhood by neighborhood, to say what kind of school would you want to send your child to, and what kind of community would you want to live in?

Those two fundamental questions bubbled up into the visions for individual neighborhoods and schools on what they wanted, what kind of partnerships and programs they wanted their community learning center to have.

At that same time, we were also building the district wide infrastructure.

So that was internally in the district.

What was it going to take to make this happen?

What departments needed to understand the utilization of buildings and how we were going to align school goals the at the time, the one plan was um the school, the school plan that called the goals out there, and how are we going to leverage that to for a combination of the school and community goals?

So, what is this inside the district infrastructure look like?

And then also building the infrastructure in the community.

So if a school said we want a health partner, how are we going to have a health partner for school number one and school number 65?

How are we going to have after school and enrichment partners, college and career partners, early childhood partners?

The list goes on and on.

So in that time, we were able to do this deep community engagement process and to build the infrastructure to set us up for the original nine sites with the role of the resource coordinator.

So then from 2006 to 2020.

So as it was mentioned earlier, we are decades into this work.

And I want to keep that in perspective, right?

That this is us telling the story 20, 25 years later.

We've been able to scale up to all sites across our district.

We are a lead agency model where the lead agency employs the role of the resource coordinator, who is part of the infrastructure at the site that aligns and integrates the partners to the school and community goals.

So that the principal can focus on academics and discipline, the resource coordinator can really focus on making sure everyone's rowing in the same direction, and that it's not just partners.

It's not just stuff.

Partnerships aren't a new invention, but the alignment and the integration, the intentionality, the community engagement around partnerships is really where the rubber meets the road for our implementation of community learning centers.

So with that, I will also mention that that's where any new funding needed to be found, was for that role of the resource coordinator.

I'll talk about our financial sustainability a little bit later, but I do want to acknowledge that that's a new role that didn't exist before, and that's where new funds needed to come in.

At the beginning of our work, we had a blended pot, United Way, Greater Cincinnati Foundation, some other family foundations locally, put some money in the pot with at the time we had some of the 21st century after school grants to be able to employ those roles that went out to those lead agencies.

But over time, 2006 to 2020, we've scaled up those models, um, expanded some funding opportunities around that role.

2009, in the mix of that, board policies were adopted to support community learning centers.

That's an important piece that I do want to mention because this wasn't because this was now seven or eight superintendents ago saying this was my idea and this is what we're, you know, moving forward.

This was the community supporting a levy to support this and a board policy to say that this is how we're doing business moving forward.

And now 2006 or 2026, I'm apologies, is that all schools continue to operate as community learning centers through all of our funding struggles, through the different, you know, political um climates that we've had, um, whether it's in the state or federally.

And so I just want to acknowledge that 2000 to 2026 is the timeline of the work that we're talking about.

So then this is what it's going to look like.

And I realized when I saw the screens that you guys are looking at, they're pretty small.

So this is pretty, this is probably really small.

But I did just want to show this as a visual to say what does this look like at site implementation?

The top box on the screen says the lead agency.

This is an example at Euler Community Learning Center, and the lead agency is the community learning center institute.

We do employ seven resource coordinators across the 65 schools in Cincinnati Public Schools because we never wanted to be an agency that sat at the top of a hill and said, this is how you do this work without actually doing the work and being able to prove best practices.

So when I talk about some of our schools here today, that's gonna be the schools that I talk about because we're actually doing the work there.

What I just want to explain about this visual is these are all the partnership buckets that that school and community picked and wanted and needed.

We're gonna talk about some best practices here in a minute.

And that's one of those is site-based choice and site-based governance.

But you'll see in some of the in these columns, mental health, school-based health, um, that's primary health.

Um, the Delta Dental Center is the dentist office, the vision center is the eye doctor, K to six enrichment is all of that during the school day, after school, summer enrichment opportunities for our kiddos.

If we go to the next page, Euler actually does have a high school.

So then there's the enrichment for the middle and high schoolers.

Media arts is the career tech pathway at that high school.

And so there's a partner team that supports, of course, there's the CPS teacher that teaches that.

And then there's all the partners that push in to co-teach and facilitate the um the learning opportunities with the kids, the hands-on learning, college and career, early childhood, mentoring and tutoring.

We'll go on to family success, community, safety, summer, then there's the MTSS, what we call student success um work that happens.

And so this is a very quick snapshot, just so that you guys can see a visual at the site level to say there's a lead agency, the lead agency, which I'll talk about reports reports out to our LSDMC, which is our site-based governance to talk about the not only the process measures that are happening within these partnerships, but also the impact measures.

And are the right partners at the right school?

And then drilling down to that next level are the right partners touching the right students and reaching the right students with what they need to be successful.

Now, the next piece I'm going to say is, and again, this is a broad brushstroke of this work, but I want to at least give you guys a picture of the work that we're doing, and that we honestly obviously hope that you guys continue to expand upon.

But that what best practices has made this work happen.

So one, schools serve as a center of their community, responsive to the unique vision and needs of each school in its surrounding neighborhood.

That's very important to our work.

Cincinnati, which uh I imagine is similar in Columbus, is very neighborhoody.

So a strategy that's working in one neighborhood or a partnership that's working in one neighborhood is not going to be the same strategy that or partnership that potentially works in the neighborhood right next door because the demographics, um, the uh values, the needs of that community might be very different.

So we want to make sure that that is the number one best practice that this that the um the vision in the community learning center is responsive to the individual school in its surrounding neighborhood.

The second one is the community vision and needs will be identified through ongoing community engagement.

Now, this seems like just a sentence on a piece of paper, but what I really want to make sure that if you don't take anything away from anything else away from this conversation, is to understand the in the intentionality and the intensive community engagement process.

This is not just a checkbox, this is not just a survey.

This is kitchen conversations, this is bringing people together in large groups.

This is really identifying that there is continuous input from the residents, the families and stakeholders on the vision of their school as a community learning center.

Number three is each school.

Andy, I just want to jump in right here real quick.

I apologize.

We've got about three minutes left.

I want to make sure we get to our community partners.

So I apologize to Oh, no, thanks.

No, I was actually keeping time.

I was like, I have two minutes left, but I will um I'll wrap it up and just say that number three is about site-based choice.

Number four is about shared goals and accountability.

And then number five is that our partners are all financially sustainable on their own, whether there's different billing models or whether there's um or whether there is um other funding streams that it is doesn't have impact on the school budget.

And so I could talk about this impact in more depth, but I will just say that since the passage of community learning centers, all of our levies have passed.

Um, early childhood, if the students are attached to early childhood partnerships, they are more on track for kindergarten enrichment, kids who are attached to enrichment, um, have a better school day attendance.

The graduation rate and the homelessness and neighborhood indicators I was going to talk about just about Euler and in um in depth was um the graduation rate at Euler was 92% this past school year, the projection, the indicate neighborhood indicators have all improved.

And then health, just as an example, with our school-based health centers and the vision, 71% of the kids have needed glasses.

So if we think about the students who did wouldn't have gotten glasses without these partnerships, obviously their school and their learning would have been impacted.

So there it is, tied up in a quick little bow, and I'll stop there.

Thank you so much, Annie.

I kept on thinking um as you talked about the different offerings that the uh Euler had.

One of the questions that I kept hearing superintendent asked, and who's paying for this?

Because the neat part about it was we want to talk about it, Superintendent.

Yes, I just want to name that um what was very eye-opening to me is that um the each school in the entire district has all of these partnerships, right?

And all of these partnerships, um, the costs are offset by this um the entity that they've set up, Annie, right?

Like the school district is not footing the bill of all of these partnerships.

And so as we think about the challenges that we've discussed tonight, the presentation that Ryan just gave, we have to be in a space where we're thinking about how can we meet our community halfway.

There are so many services and programs that we currently provide in CCS that are above and beyond the state minimum.

Early childhood programming.

We do not receive full funding for that.

So that means we have to carve out some of that limited funding that we receive from the state to provide early childhood programming and braid it with other resources, extracurricular activities, summer programming, after school programming, whole child supports, behavioral supports, counseling, social work services.

That's above and beyond, but it's absolutely for me a non-negotiable because we know those are the services and programs that our students need.

And so when we see a model like this in Cincinnati, where they they didn't do this overnight, they made very clear and reminded us that it's been three decades at least that they've been working on standing up this model to provide the supports and resources that every community needs, where the community is saying we want to have a vision clinic, we want to have a dental clinic in our backyard because that is a need for our community, and we're going to work with other partners and agencies to make that happen.

We want to have a dental clinic in our backyard because that is a need for our community, and we're going to work with other partners and agencies to make that happen.

Amazing.

This is we're really excited about this pilot.

Um that, as uh Presbrot Tim said, we passed the legislation for I think to uh the council meeting before last to um uh start this process.

And I think that that is one this is a this is an example of what collaborative partnerships uh could look like uh to help us uh as we uh try to move forward.

So thank you again, Annie, for uh being with us today.

Thanks, guys.

Um now is time to hear from the community.

Again, this is our first meeting of this committee.

We look forward to, and again, the purpose of this uh first meeting was to level set um when Press Pro Tim and School Board Member Ingalls close us out.

I think they'll talk about where we go from here.

But I do I don't want us to think that this was an exhaustive meeting.

It was two level set, basic information about where we are so that we can think about uh together how we move forward.

And so I'm really excited about the folks who have signed up to speak today.

I think we have eight speakers that are coming before us.

Um just a reminder that you have three minutes uh and um if you would just if you're representing an organization, let us know.

The first speaker to come before counsel um is a former school board member and president.

Um, but I think she's here in her role as the presidency of the Columbus Urban League and Stephanie Hightower.

So my time doesn't start until after I recognize all of you.

So um just so we just so we're we're clear here.

Um President Harden, um President Dr.

Miranda, uh Superintendent, City Council members, and school board members.

Thank you for um what you're doing with this task force.

And I love the things that you've been using today, especially Mr.

Cook around uh the the thousand cuts.

Um so I want to talk a little bit about a thousand cuts and what that means.

So it's not just adults who need to find their place in the new evolving economy.

CUL is creating a network to ensure that more young people realize their full potential.

We promote school attendance, career exploration and preparation, and positive life choices.

This approach also works to reduce gang violence and promote safer streets.

What we do is more than just internships or after-school program.

We are crafting solutions that result in educational persistence, career readiness, violence prevention, and long-term economic mobility.

In 25, we've reached nearly 800 young people working with 42 employer partners to place 154 paid interns in jobs.

Those young people earned about 330,000 in wages for 22,000 hours.

Further the neighborhood violence intervention program, which the city does fund.

We diffuse more than 1,000 potentially violent incidences, facilitated 541 peace agreements.

We work to keep three to keep 300 young people out of the criminal justice system through our STEP program, again, one that you used to fund strive uh towards empowerment and purpose initiative.

And some of the pro the proudest moments we have, and Dr.

Chapman has been witness to this.

100% of the seniors in our I Am My Brothers Keeper program graduated from high school.

However, as you know, we are also squeezed by strength-shrinking budgets while the community needs continue to grow.

Right now, we have made more than we have more than 1,000 kids on the wait list for our workforce readiness training internships in VIP and STEP.

Your trusted Columbus Urban League has lost more than $600,000 in funding for its credible messenger programs.

These are not just budget numbers, they represent trusted adults, safe spaces, mentoring prevention, exposure, and whole child supports being taken away from students who need the most.

Averaging attendance increased from 65% to 71%, and chronic absenteeism decreased by 13 percent.

The need is growing and it's not shrinking.

So I want to close by saying, because I know there's still a lot here, I don't have that much time.

I believe we could never invest in anything more important than our youth.

The choice is clear for our team.

We are searching for new funding so that we can protect the safety nets that are working, that are working, so that we don't have to pay a much greater cost later in school disengagement, neighborhood violence, and court involve young people.

Thank you so much, President Hightower, and thank you for the work that you do.

I think as we think about the future and how we do just that work.

Thank you, President High Tower.

How we ensure that this work continues to be done is kind of what we looked at Euler about.

How do we make sure?

Imagine a future where Columbus Urban League and the work that they do served several schools.

And we just knew that this was these young people were supported by the Urban League, and then supported you in finding the resources to do that.

Um those are the hopefully the opportunities when we we put the challenges on the table and are upfront about how we we plan to solve for them.

So thank you.

Council President, if I like that.

Thank you, President Hightower for coming and sharing that.

Um this has been like screaming in my brain the whole time we've been talking, and then especially in the um in the last presentation that we heard out of Cincinnati, you know, when we're talking about building um, you know, uh infrastructure around partnership.

Uh at the same time, all of our community partners uh are struggling to get by, and we all are uh at risk of not being able to open our doors next year.

Um, and so this is a much bigger conversation.

You know, I mean, we need to be having a conversation as a community.

Who are we?

Um, who are we collectively?

Because there will be no partners left to partner with, uh, like the best point behavioral health care in uh in Cincinnati or the boys and girls clubs or the Columbus Urban League.

Uh, if we don't look at these issues as whole community issues, and and we have got to make some changes.

Thank you.

Thank you, President Hightower.

Thank you.

Next speaker to come for council is Mr.

Munir Lynch.

Welcome to council.

Three minutes, and if you're representing any organization.

Good evening.

Nice to see you all.

Um co-chairs, uh, President Hardin and President Dr.

Miranda, um, members of council, members of the Board of Education, Dr.

Chapman, um, Treasurer Cook, and all of my neighbors and colleagues that are here today.

Thank you for having us this evening.

My name is Munir Lynch.

I'm not here on behalf of any organization, but I am a proud product of Columbus City Schools.

You know, we have a wonderful opportunity here for two governing bodies to come together to handle an emergency in service to our community, and I want to thank you for making that happen at long last.

I'm here tonight because I believe, as President Hardin said earlier tonight, that the future of Columbus and the future of Columbus City schools are inseparable.

We spoke today about the many ways that our schools and our city partner and the immense challenges that we've been facing, too many for me to name in three minutes.

Um, and at the very same time, Columbus is experiencing extraordinary growth.

The city recently approved a historic nearly 2.9 billion dollar capital budget, and the region expects to add hundreds of thousands of housing units over the next decade.

We must.

And yet many of us feel like that growth is happening around us rather than for us.

And you've heard Treasurer Cook tell us today that the abatements directly harm our students to the tune of 80 million dollars a year.

And that's the central tension that this committee has to confront.

Our city experiences historic growth while our public schools, our most important public good, are constantly experiencing managed decline, and that can't continue.

If our city's growing, our schools should be growing too.

So with this committee, I believe that you know, before every council decision, we need to ask.

How does this investment strengthen our neighborhood schools?

How does it help families stay here in Columbus?

How does it create communities where children can thrive?

When housing becomes unaffordable, our schools feel it.

When neighborhoods are disinvest disinvested, our schools feel it.

And when schools struggle, the city feels it too.

Our chronic absenteeism rates have exceeded 50% in recent years, and that reflects housing instability, transportation barriers, and the public health inequities that I see in my job every day, and whether students and families feel connected to the community.

No single institution can solve these problems alone, and that's why this committee work matters a lot to me and our whole city.

So I hope this becomes a place where we can make those bold commitments that housing and transit and business decisions are school decisions, that economic development must benefit working families, and that our public schools are not an afterthought in our growth as a city.

They are the civic infrastructure that makes our growth worth pursuing.

So through this partnership, we here have an opportunity to ensure that our growth does not come at the expense of our future generations and becomes the foundation of their success.

We know what sort of state legislator that we're working with, so I want to thank these local leaders for taking this first step and look forward to learning more about the work to come.

And if I can close with just one thing, I want to ask this committee for one thing, and it's to make sure that it's a priority that we remain informed about the work we do.

Um just one more second, I'm sorry.

Um, and the landscape that we operate under, because oftentimes our community wants to say, you know, we are fighting against the narrative that schools are failing and these irresponsible decisions we're making.

And so, you know, I really appreciate that and just hope we can all stay informed.

So thank you very much for your time this evening.

Thank you so much, uh, uh, for being here, and we look forward to to seriously having you continue to be at the table.

I think your leadership is is um much appreciated.

Next speaker to come before council is Mr.

Adaro Robinson.

Uh Councilmember Rosa De Padilla uh leaned over and told me that three of the speakers have connections to City Air.

So you are one of the three.

Just to put that out there.

That's where I got my start.

30 year relationship here.

Uh good evening, council members, Columbus City School Representatives, and community stakeholders.

My name is Adaro Robinson, CEO of Communities and Schools of Ohio, or CIS.

Thank you for creating this committee and creating and recognizing the student's success depends on strong partnerships between schools, local government, families, and community organizations.

CIS currently partners full-time with nine Columbus City schools.

During the first three quarters of the school year, CIS impacted more than 3,500 students and engaged hundreds of families.

As of last week, our data shows that we provided over 14,000 tier one, two, and three supports, plus case-managed services for nearly 500 students facing significant barriers to success.

What our staff sees every day is that the barriers keeping students from succeeding are often not academic.

Students struggle with attendance because of transportation challenges, housing instability, mental health concerns, food insecurity, family crisis, et cetera, et cetera.

These challenges require solutions that extend beyond the school building.

The good news is that we know what works.

When students' basic needs are met and families are connected to resources, attendance improves, behavior improves, and academic outcomes improve.

So as this committee begins this work, I encourage you to focus on three priorities.

First, reducing chronic absenteeism.

It is one of the clearest indicators of whether a student is on track for success.

For example, at Columbus Global Academy, our Q2 attendance check-ins show that incentives help maintain or approve attendance goals for 78% of participating students.

Second, expanding access to students and family supports.

Students and families need greater access to mental health services, housing resources, food assistance, and other supports that help create stability.

One additional incentive at Columbus Global.

Back in February, our site coordinators helped provide families, fifty over 50 plus families with groceries and other essential items.

And third, invested in neighborhood partnerships.

Lasting change happens when schools, city government, nonprofits, healthcare providers, businesses, and residents work together around shared goals for children and families.

For example, at Johnson Park Middle School, our partnership with CareSource supported 50 students in improving attendance, recognized with the wards in a field trip to bowling to Rule 3 with former OSU quarterback Cardell Jones.

They really love that one.

We can't wait to do it again next year.

So this committee has an opportunity to align resources, break down silos, and scale the strategies that are already making a difference here in Central Ohio for our residents.

So if we want better outcomes for students, we must invest not only what happens inside the classroom, but also the conditions that allow students to show up ready to learn.

So thank you for your leadership and your commitment.

Thank you so much.

Daryl, I also, Council President, I forgot to mention one of our cameramen who is usually here, Sean actually served with Adarrow in City Year, is also a Columbus City Schools grad.

I'm just saying Columbus, we're like half a degree separated from each other at any given time.

Daryl, can you just talk about?

I know there's a lot of like different educators or education adjacent folks, but when you talk about communities and schools doing tier one, tier two, and tier three supports, can you just break down what that means for folks who might not be familiar?

Absolutely.

So tier one, two, and three supports are what we call ISS or integrated student supports.

Tier one is whole school support.

Think of it as an inverted triangle.

Whole school support for tier one that any student can take advantage of.

So say attendance initiatives.

And then you funnel down to tier two supports, it might be small group initiatives for young people that may have similar challenges.

It could be academic, it could be SEL, social emotional learning.

And tier three is our individualized case management, and that's where our site coordinators go deep into assessing what individual students are needing, and then they take a caseload on based on based on data and other needs that are identified in partnership with that school.

And I just wanted to I I just wanted to highlight this because I think as we talk about, you know, our structure in schools, we they don't our teachers and educators don't always have all of the school supports that they need, right?

So when you have interventions like a communities and schools, like a city or like other organizations, the urban league that do work and support in schools, you then have a structured model that supports all of our educators and that can do pull outs and that can do whole classroom support, they can do whole school and do you know environmental support around the school.

And what I mean is like school environment.

That's what I mean by school by support.

I just wanted to highlight this because I think that a lot of our school, um, a lot of our nonprofits, and I see many of them are here, really support that student in ways that you know the teacher, when you have many when you have 30 some kids in a classroom, you can't always provide that individualized support.

And so the way that they partner together is really remarkable.

So when we look at that Cincinnati um example, we have a lot of that happening at our schools.

It just looks a little bit different.

Superintendent, I see your hand.

I would just like to add that those supports are not luxuries.

Those supports are not nice to have.

Those supports are essential for our students being able to get to school, stay in school, and attend in school.

Many of our students are facing so many challenges.

We think about housing instability, food insecurity, think about the trauma that our students have experiencing and are still experiencing on a day-to-day basis.

What we learned when we returned from school post-pandemic, that our students were experiencing significant levels of stress, significant levels of loneliness, significant levels of mental health needs.

And so it wasn't an option for us to try to figure out how we're gonna address that.

We recognize that we had to address that because that was leading to why our students were not coming to school, why our students were missing school, why were they making choices not to attend and engage?

And so I just want to name that these supports that we're talking about are non-negotiables.

We have to figure out how we provide these wraparound services to our students, whether it's in the community before school, during school, or after school.

Many of our students need those supports throughout the entire day, throughout the week, on the weekends when they're not in school, and the on summer break, on winter breaks, on vacations, and so we need to be thinking about again as a community how we serve, we call it our whole child supports, addressing their academic needs as well as their social, emotional, and mental health needs.

We have to serve the whole child.

And I think adding on to that, take the pressure off of the school system for paying for that.

And how do we help to sustain to the point that you were making, council member?

How do we make all of these organizations self-sustaining so that they can continue to provide those supports for our students during and after school?

Yes.

I mean I well, I'm so sorry.

Just because I'm getting text also, we have a uh Juneteenth uh event that starts in in 30 minutes, and we have six other folks to speak.

Uh so I I want to also be mindful of time, so I apologize.

We I promise we'll have another hearing.

Um the next speaker to come before council is uh our this joint committee is Ruth Lomax, who is from City representing City Year.

Hello to everybody that is um here on the panel.

Thank you to our Columbus City Council members.

Um, thank you to our Columbus City School Partners.

As you heard, my name is Ruth Marie Lomex, and I proudly serve as the executive director of City Year Columbus.

Across Columbus and the country, schools are being asked to do more with less.

As public funding struggles to keep pace with students' growing and increasingly complex needs, one thing is clear.

Schools cannot and should not do this work alone.

Partners like City Year are not a luxury, as Dr.

Chapman just said.

They are essential to a strong educational ecosystem.

Sustained investment across public, private, and nonprofit sectors is critical if we want every student to succeed.

That is exactly what our partnership with Columbus City Schools makes possible.

During the 25-26 school year, City Year supported five schools across with 28 AmeriCorps members serving along 28 partner teachers.

In English language arts, as we call ELA, we enrolled 207 students and targeted intervention and interventions and delivered 5,312 learning sessions.

In math, we supported 180 students through 5,880 intervention sessions.

Beyond those small group efforts, we worked with 1,178 students and provided 14,271 additional coaching sessions, sessions, totaling in 4,043 hours of support.

Just as important, 100% of surveyed administrators and teachers agreed that City Year AmeriCorps members had a positive impact on student growth and both math and English language arts.

Those numbers reflect real transformation in classrooms every day.

Using the magnetic reading curriculum, she helped make reading more engaging and accessible to students.

Her approach was so effective that the curriculum associates, the people that designed magnetic reading, recognized her in May with its emerging extraordinary educator award.

More importantly, her students began began to see reading differently.

They embraced it, they enjoyed it, and even formed a book club together.

We cannot do this work alone.

City Year is part of a broader nonprofit community, many of us here tonight, committed to the success of Columbus students.

We will continue to innovate, serve, and strengthen the network of our support and surrounding young people in our schools.

My hope is that this community will leverage the experience and knowledge at this table to advance better outcomes for students, families, and our city for years to come.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, uh, Ms.

Ruth.

The next speaker to come before council is uh Miss Lisa Cortis from United Way.

Welcome to Council.

Welcome back to Council.

Thank you, elected officials and superintendent Chapman.

Um I am uh so excited about your newly aligned partnership, and we uh want to be a great partner to you.

So we um we thank you for the opportunity to speak primarily in support of success by third grade, which is ensuring all children have a pathway to success uh by the end of third grade, as uh measured by the ELA score, English language arts.

We are currently serving, in addition to Columbus City Schools, five other school districts in Franklin County.

Success by third grade is built on the understanding that no one institution can remove barriers that impact a child's path to reading proficiencies.

So through a collective impact approach, we align schools, families, nonprofit organizations, early childhood providers, healthcare systems funders, government partners around common goals and shared accountability for children.

Success by third grade is funding 66 nonprofits thanks to the support of 317 corporate partners.

And we continue, because we have lifted up this collective impact for Columbus City Schools, we continue to attract new donations from individuals across our community to support the sick the success by third grade movement.

We are the backbone of success by third grade, leveraging our history as a trusted partner in the community to connect district leadership, educators, direct service partners, funders, and families with a shared vision for student success.

As this joint committee considers opportunities to strengthen supports and outcomes for Columbus children and families, know that we are committed to being your partner.

Thank you for your leadership and your commitment to Columbus.

We will stand with you on this journey, and I was very inspired by Cincinnati.

Because we're already on our way to some of that.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Miss Lisa.

Are there any questions or comments for Ms.

Lisa?

Hearing now.

The next person coming for council is Chris Monteiro.

Chris, welcome to council.

Hello, President Harden, President Pro Tem Doran, School Board President Dr.

Miranda, and Board Vice President Ingalls, along with Dr.

Chapman, Mr.

Cook, and City Council members.

I am Chris Montero, an English teacher at Northland High School, and the first community schools coordinator in Columbus City Schools.

As you know, I have led the community campus schools initiative part-time while teaching over the past few years, and I am thrilled to see City Council recognizing the transformative potential for this program as I've seen every single day.

Even without dedicated full-time support, we have already started to see great improvements.

If you haven't read our full report yet, some highlights include improved test scores across all four OST subjects, reduced chronic absenteism, and a 56% reduction in behavior referrals related to student violence.

The qualitative accounts of this work are even more encouraging.

Students and faculty consistently report feeling hopeful and empowered through this work at a time when hope and power come at a premium.

There's still so much we want to do.

And with a full-time coordinator, we'll see the school truly transformed to meet the needs of our community.

As such, the joint press conference at Northland announcing funding for this work should have been a moment of triumph after fighting for years to get that support.

However, the prevailing emotion I experienced was fear.

Fear that our years of work may be co-opted rather than supported.

Fear that private interests would dominate policymakers' decisions over public good.

Fear that community schools would be watered down into only wraparound services.

Fear that schools slated for closure would be excluded from the conversation, as happened when schools first were applying for this opportunity, and fear that the voices of those with power would dominate the conversation over the voice of Columbus's constituents.

After all, the announcement came the day after the city council had approved 25 million dollars for the Haslems and a public park for them.

Indeed, our city has gained a reputation for utilizing public dollars and infrastructure for private interests.

Plus, in stark contrast, in stark contrast to the ethos of community schools, the press conference did not feature a single voice outside of those already in positions of power, nor did it feature anyone trained on community schools implementation.

Imagine how much more of a message it could have sent if it featured a student, an educator, a parent or community member who could testify to the importance of this work and the funding.

Of course, that conference was about much more than Northland.

It was about this collaboration between the city and the district through today's forum and future joint meetings.

Fortunately, the city and district do face a similar challenge.

Top-down decision making with minimal engagement from stakeholders.

My sincere hope is that these meetings can be the remedy.

Rather than using this forum as another platform for your own voices, I would encourage you all to find ways of platforming the greater Columbus community.

Host listening sessions for educators, parents, students, and others to give you honest feedback on the state of our schools.

Hold meetings at the schools rather than downtown.

Talk to those who have been implementing community schools here in Columbus already, like the Columbus Education Justice Coalition, the Columbus Education Association, and indeed at Northland.

I say all this with confidence that uh we can do this work, we can transform Columbus, we can uh improve our schools for everyone in our communities.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ms.

Montier, I have a question.

I have a question.

It's uh actually a bottom-up question.

Uh because last time we spoke, one of the uh issues that you were working on was um a local food pantry was uh had lost funny or lost their location.

How do you choose as the first uh community and schools coordinator, the community partners, and what do you feel you need to have as uh resources to make those partnerships work?

So the approach so far has largely been about just doing that deep engagement work and finding out what people in the neighborhood care about.

That's how we came across in-prem the food pantry that you mentioned.

Uh the we started working with the Forest Park Civic Association and one of the neighbors in the community, Michael Côte.

Uh told us about their situation, told us about the impact of that food pantry on the community and um our team.

We have a uh steering committee that drives this work, uh comprising students, uh families, faculty members.

Uh we all decided that it was too important of a resource to just give up the fight like that.

So uh that's how we started to work with them.

Um, as far as resources go, really, it it all comes down to having a full-time coordinator, someone full-time to do this kind of work.

Uh the struggle that we had this year is that I was trying to move around a million different pieces in my planning periods, and uh that was a recipe for burnout.

It it did not uh work as effectively as I would have liked.

But um, you know, the model is very strong at creating the infrastructure to be able to have those conversations with all the stakeholders.

It's really just a matter of having someone dedicated to doing that work.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker to come before council is Lakretia Darling.

Ms.

Darling, welcome.

So I just want to say hi to everyone.

Um, this was a last minute decision um to make and come speak.

Um, I come to you as a Columbus City School alumni.

I come to you as a Columbus City school parent pre-COVID, after COVID.

Um, and I come to you as one of those employees who was displaced as an attendance program specialist to talk about everything.

I love Columbus City Schools.

Um, I put both of my children went to Columbus City Schools.

My oldest graduated from Centennial 2017, um, and she was a part of C City Year, provided her money so she can go get a scholarship at Penn State and pursue her masters.

Um, my youngest daughter um just graduated from Mary Franklin as the valedictorian, and she was a I know I can founder scholar.

Um I did this all as a single mom.

And I just want to say I work at South High School where I am alumni from there.

Um, and uh it's there's so much work that needs to be done.

Um we've done we spent so much money on restorative practices within our district, but we treated them like they were transitional things instead of transformational things.

When you when you do something, when we're talking about restorative practices, it takes all hands on deck.

A lot of people don't understand what it means to transform, they look at it as a transition, and sometimes we took the classes, we did all those things, but they weren't implemented in the ways that could have been implemented.

So I just wanted to come and say that.

Um I will I love what we're doing here.

I have a passion for our kids.

I'm not here for a pity because I I lost my job.

I'm here because I believe in Columbus City schools.

I put two two children through, and I do not want this work to go underneath.

You know, there was a nice program that we were started, and I was excited about continuing on, but things have to things have to go or whatever, but I just don't want our kids to be let down.

I want there to be support for our staff and our administration, and I really want there to be a hard look at our our behavior policy, our out of suspici out of school suspension rate, because the way that it is being used, it is a pipeline to prison.

That is we talk about chronic asceteism rates.

That is one of the biggest things that affects our chronic absenteeism rate is that out of school suspension, and we need as adults need no longer to match energy and Q tip, quit taking it personal with these kids because discipline means to teach.

So that's my thing.

Uh, you are the face of every point of this conversation.

Um every single one of them.

I've been there.

Assistant, work full time, raise the key.

That might be very worked at city schools.

Thank you.

Thank you, thank you.

Uh the next speaker to come before counsel is Brie Loach.

B welcome.

Good evening, members of City Council, the Columbus City School Board, and wonderful community stakeholders.

My name is Brie Losi, and I'm the executive director of Student Success Stores.

Our mission is simple yet critical.

We provide free anonymous, dignity-centered stores inside of Columbus City Schools, serving students in grades six through twelve, filled with food, hygiene products, school school dress code clothing, and school supplies.

We fiercely believe that not having access to basic need items should not be a barrier to them attending and engaging in school.

Data from national educators and giving that basics article shows that up to 42% of older students have skipped class simply because they did not have access to food or clothing and hygiene items to feel clean.

When we talk about school performance and chronic absenteeism, we aren't just talking about a lack of motivation.

We are talking about a lack of resources.

When student success stores fills a backpack with deodorant, soap, a clean shirt, and easy access food, we aren't just giving a handout.

We are actively preventing a student from missing school that week.

While you are here today to discuss macro level policies, zoning, tax abatements, and development.

I am here to share the micro level reality of what our families are experiencing on the ground right now.

In the last school year alone, student success stores served approximately 1,700 students across 15 Columbus City schools.

We distributed more than 82,000 items, a 44% increase from last school year through 3,299 shopping visits valued at 78,000.

These numbers aren't just statistics, they are a direct reflection of the economic pressure on Columbus families.

When housing costs skyrockets, benefits are cut, and neighborhoods shift, the very first thing cut from families' budgets are the basic need items we provide.

The need is there and will continue to be there.

We currently have 13 schools on our wait list, and we have a goal to be in every middle school and high school that needs us within the next seven years.

Student Success Stories has been here for the last 10 years, and we plan to continue showing up for our Columbus community.

We appreciate both leadership bodies coming together today.

Moving forward, we would welcome a seat at the table to ensure access to basic need items remains a permanent, consistent reality for every student.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

And our final speaker this evening is Jonathan Bashir.

Welcome to Council.

Welcome back to Council, sir.

Thank you.

My name is Jonathan Bashears.

I live in Columbus.

My wife and I are proud graduates of Columbus Alternative High School.

I volunteer in youth ministry at my church, and I have students that are in the district.

Obviously, we're all concerned about declining enrollment in our public schools.

Some of this is due to uh simply structural demographic shifts.

But if we're candid, some of this is because parents are choosing to enroll their students at other schools using vouchers and other programs.

In order to stop the loss of students, we need to look at ways to better serve students and parents in our communities so that so many of them don't want to leave.

I offer two solutions.

First, we should offer merit-based pay for our best teachers.

I had some great teachers, and they should be rewarded by being paid more.

I fondly remember Mr.

Fawcett, you might remember him as well.

Um he was our AP chemistry teacher at Columbus Alternative.

He had a giant beard, and he reminded me of Dumbledore from Harry Potter.

Everyone in our class passed the AP chemistry exam, which only has a national pass rate of around 50%.

I had many great teachers like this, and I believe he should have been received compensation for doing such a great job.

I also hear there's some other educators here that are going above and beyond and getting great results.

Pay that man.

He's doing a great job.

Pay people like him.

Help these uh these teachers that are helping our students.

Merit-based pay would not only improve morale for our best teachers, but also attract talent into our student into our schools.

Second, we need to fire severely underperforming teachers.

Most of the teachers that I had in Columbus City schools were good, but I had a few bad ones.

Terminating the employment of severely underperforming teachers improves educational outcomes, parent satisfaction, and morale among educators.

There's been a misconception among a small minority that these kinds of reforms would hurt educators or the union.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Hiring and rewarding the best teachers gives educators a foundation to stand on when they request a raise, which they deserve.

There's no stronger bargaining position than to say we have the best educators, outcomes are improving, parents are happy, and our teachers deserve to be compensated for the results that they're getting.

We know this because the most highly compensated educators in the world are mostly in nations that have implemented merit-based pay.

In summary, we need to reward our teachers who are doing a really great job at educating our students.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Bashiers.

I want to thank everyone who made time uh in their schedule to be out for this uh first committee hearing.

It is not lost on me that you know we'll have hearings at council sometimes, we'll only have a handful of folks out in the crowd.

Uh but the level of folks that showed up here today who've engaged with us already.

And the biggest question that was asked, I I think the lead up today was sort of what's what's the point?

What are you all wanting to do?

You know, what what's what's the plan?

And I think all of us up here have recognized that there's not an individual plan that this is about creating the infrastructure for two governing bodies, not to make decisions for one another, but to ask the question to one another how can we support one another to put our kids first?

And it's certainly not uh lost on me that I'm sending my little one off to Columbus City Schools in the fall.

And I think we've got four different council members that are doing the same thing.

Um so it's the easy thing for me to say that makes us personal, but it's personal for everybody.

It's personal for everyone in the city to make sure that we have a district that again has a growth mindset because that means that we have great teachers, that we've got great facilities, that we've got great wraparound supports that again, people in our communities have been able to weigh in on and really think about that neighborhood school as a neighborhood school, not just a school on an island on its own.

And I think for me and for council, um, as council president has mentioned, I think everyone up here, there's there's no issue too big or too small for these two bodies um to engage with one another on to find the best solution for our children.

And um one of the reasons why we wanted to make this a committee was to make sure that this kept moving, that this wasn't just one task force that started and ended, that it wasn't just a work group, that it was actually a permanent piece of infrastructure for this body um to come together, again, as equals, not with one another telling the other body what to do or what not to do, but really as equals um in this particular moment to support our children.

And uh I'm very proud that um we've got folks who've decided to lean in and do this work because the time is now.

It is difficult to listen to uh Mr.

Cook's presentation and not uh think about what the reality is for so many of our young people in our community um because we have such a difficult time making sure that we can keep these doors open, that we can keep our teachers teaching kids, that we can have wraparound supports that we can have folks that are intervening with our kids need it.

Um and ultimately we know uh, and this is probably the tenth time we've said this today, but the success of this city is directly linked to the success success of our kids and the school district.

And that's why um, you know, when the council president and I started talking with President Miranda and Vice President Ingalls about putting this this uh community together, I think all of us got very, very excited about what this can mean and mean in the future.

So, you know, we've talked about there's gonna be lots more opportunities to win.

Our our next uh joint uh committee hearing will be in September.

We'll make sure that that is uh announced for folks uh again.

This is not going to live downtown, that this is gonna be out in the community, out to schools uh to make sure that we're trying to meet folks where they're at uh because these issues are alive in every single school and every single neighborhood across the city of Columbus.

Um I'm really proud to be sitting next to an old friend of mine uh to be able to do this work together.

And I would love for Vice President Engels to close this out for this evening.

Thank you, Council Pro Tem.

Um I think that we all heard tonight the importance of creative solutions that might be hard if not impossible to immediately solve.

But these are issues that have existed for a long time and um are getting worse, and we can absolutely address right now.

Um it's been clear from the presentations and the public comment tonight that there are lots of good things happening in our district currently, and that there are lots of opportunities to expand upon.

Attendance and absenteeism was brought up multiple times, absolutely top of mind, especially for our school board members, but a clear indicator of success in school.

The funding solutions, we have to tackle the hard questions.

And so it was brought up a couple times.

Abatements, TIFFs, property taxes, building repairs, what we can alleviate with better community city and county coordination, sustainable solutions and partnerships for green energy that saves money on rising energy costs and is sustainable for our district.

That is a real opportunity that we could have some partnerships and beyond just council and the school district.

Being at the table for develop development as it's initially being discussed and providing input in the plan and sharing the information and knowledge that we have as a district will be key moving forward.

And I think thinking about maximizing properties, both city and schools and growth, expanding access to supports was something we heard a lot of tonight.

So I think that this committee is a real opportunity for us to work together and really tell the story of CCS because what a success that story actually is.

They are a good investment for every institution.

And our kids deserve a public school system that meets them where they are, shows it believes in them, and truly supports them.

So I'm grateful, and I know President Miranda is very grateful for this opportunity with council.

We're so thankful that we have a council president and a council pro tem and a whole Columbus City Council that is willing to engage in the real questions.

But what's evident is that we have a lot of work to do and we don't have a lot of time to do it.

So we will need our community to be present.

We will need our community to be engaged, and we will need our community to be coming to the table to push those of us that are blessed to have the microphone in front of us and to push us to do the work to get the work done because our kids cannot wait and we cannot let them.

So with that, I'm just so grateful for this opportunity, and I know that we'll be able to do some good work moving forward.

Thank you.