Meeting summary:

  • The policy committee of the Cincinnati Public Schools Board of Education is investing in a partnership with education privatizers, sparking outrage among teachers, union representatives and parents. Board member Lindy pushed back on critics of this partnership, saying that it’s just a proposal they’ve reviewed and that the community should get more involved before jumping to conclusions.
  • Budget projections are very grim. They indicate that if the district does not make drastic cost cuts in the next three years, it is rapidly on track to financial ruin. There are no easy answers or solutions about how to address this.
  • There are severe issues in the enrollment process, both for students in and out of the district, that require immediate and urgent action on the part of district leadership.

Documenter’s follow-up question:

  • What will the board do in response to the outrage from the community around the privatization of education within the district? Revoke their decision made in the policy committee meeting or double down on investing in charter schools and private school vouchers?
  • The budget paints a very grim picture, one characterized by the board as “devastating” (per Kari Armbruster). Board member Bolton suggested a future tax levy could help, but that is not something the district can count on or plan for. What will the district do to meet this financial threat?

Notes

Current Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) Board of Education members:

  • Brandon Craig, president
  • Kareem Moncree-Moffett, vice president
  • Kari Armbruster
  • Eve Bolton
  • Jim Crosset
  • Benjamin Lindy
  • Kendra Mapp

CPS administrators present:

  • Shauna Murphy, superintendent
  • Michael Gustin, treasurer
  • Chris Burkhardt, chief operations officer
  • Jeremy Gollihue, chief information officer
  • Daniel Hoyne, general counsel

Full meeting agenda can be found here.

Started 15 minutes late (at 5:45 p.m.)

Announcements

Common themes from public comment:

  • Appraisals of district properties and real estate acquisitions
  • Failures of the school/district bully report system and criticisms of CPS management techniques
  • Criticisms of Policy and Equity Committee, which recently decided to invest in an organization that favors charter schools and privatized education. (View the agenda from that meeting here).

Presentations

  • Facilities: Roberts Dental and Medical Center has opened; new facilities maintenance software (FMX) has launched to optimize efficiency; Winton Hills School will receive a community makeover; custodial needs are almost fully staffed; schools are using less electricity and making decisions to lower utility costs; five-year facilities estimated costs are approximately $185 million.
    • Board member comments:
      • Several facilities owned by the district are not being utilized or are being underutilized (Eve Bolton)
      • Concerns about the Rawson House facility and how any facilities maintenance work that has taken place there has not received board approval (Kendra Mapp)
      • Would the district be open to investing in solar panels to defray energy costs? Also, could we utilize student interns on the facilities team? (Jim Crosset)
      • Does our focus on cutting energy costs conflict with the community learning center model, which insists on making school facilities accessible and affordable to nonprofit partners? (Kareem Moncree-Moffett)
      • Concern about the accuracy, transparency and efficiency of the new FMX system ( Moncree-Moffett and Mapp)
      • There is a paucity of data on how the school buildings have been used, and that data needs to be collected and analyzed. Additionally, what tax credit facility updates can we work towards? ( Moncree-Moffett)
  • Review of School Year Calendars for 2026-2027 and 2027-2028: This is the second review of these calendars by the board, as required by law, before they are approved.
    • Board member comments:
      • Can we plan school year calendars even further in advance? (Lindy)
      • Desire to align school year calendars with Cincinnati Recreation Commission summer care programs (Bolton)
      • Increasing user friendliness — can we add import options for Google Calendar / Outlook / etc.? (Brandon Craig and Kari Armbruster)
  • Budget and Three-Year Forecast:
    • Property tax reforms are having a notable impact on the next five years.
    • The recently approved 10-year tax levy will help future years greatly, as will an additional $5 million from the City of Cincinnati annually.
    • The Fair School Funding Plan will likely cause decreased district funding (“This is a broken Fair School Funding formula,” said Treasurer Michael Gustin).
    • District predicts that the cost burden for funding public schools will increase at the local level, which is a struggle for our high poverty district; Worst case scenario, forecast that the district could be at a $101 million deficit by 2030; projected revenue is already 57% local taxes; projected costs are 76% personnel costs, and there is great concern that costs will not stay flat
    • District has maintained an average of one month cash on hand for years, which is far lower than experts recommend.
    • Board comments:
      • “If we don’t make reductions in the very near future, we will not have enough money,” Bolton said.
  • Our Communities
    • Open enrollment is happening now. (Link for more information)
    • Board remarks:
      • Centralized enrollment is in need of improvements, specifically in the magnet school process (Kari Armbruster)
      • Concerns about equity and fairness in the Montessori enrollment process (Kendra Mapp)
      • “Anything that takes that long to explain probably is a problem,” Bolton said.
      • Some high schools have a habit of rejecting students, saying they are full, when they are legally obligated to accept those students. This is a larger problem that has been raised many times without resolution (Bolton and Moncree-Moffett)

Resolution to file 20 original board of revision complaints: Adopted

Board matters

  • Legislative update (Daniel Hoyne, general counsel)
    • Ohio House Bill 671 – regarding districts that utilize the Ohio voucher program and threatens public school district funding 
    • Ohio State Bill 311 – regarding operation of public and chartered nonpublic schools, requiring real estate not currently in use by the district to be sold to charter schools. Also creates severe penalties for permitting district leadership to “knowingly” violate the law
    • Ohio House Bill 420 – ends property levies by 2030
    • Ohio Senate Bill 127 – regarding academic closure requirements
    • Ohio House Bill 42 – requiring data collection and reporting on student immigration status.
  • Board policy 5421 (click here for the full policy):Bolton expressed concern about the implementation of this policy at the tail end of the school year, believing it will not accurately reflect students’ progress and will strain educators. The policy committee clarified that its goal is to have only one standardized test this school year (rather than two). Superintendent Shauna Murphy also confirmed she feels this implementation timeline is possible. Moncree-Moffett suggested they view the testing this school year as a pilot and prepare to adjust as needed for the following school year.
    • Craig said the Board of Education has a chronic issue of creating policies and belaboring the process, only to then complain it is impractical in design after months of squabbling. He said this is a great waste of board time and resources. This became an emotionally charged conversation that included some personal criticisms, defensiveness and alienation of board members. After 30+ minutes of this sort of conversation, the policy committee is asked to amend the policy to consider a pilot season only for the current school year during their next policy committee meeting on March 13. 
  • General counsel model policy: Bolton expressed concern about the district model for counsel and said most Ohio districts don’t have inside counsel. Meanwhile, CPS has general counsel and an assistant general counsel on staff, as well as outside counsel. She expressed concern that the district has legal representation but wonders if the board has the same level of counsel, and does the community understand the difference? This is a topic of discussion on the policy committee agenda for March 13, per Lindy, and he requested the ability to keep this topic in process on that committee.

Resolutions

  • Alcohol use at Sands Montessori Carnival
  • Amend Board Policy 8310
  • Fiscal year (FY) 2025-2026 amended appropriations resolution.

Superintendent’s Recommendations

If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at documenters@signalcincinnati.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.

Find more Documenters’ notes here.