Kimberley Mason is one of the six candidates running for the Columbus City Schools' Board of Education.
On the first week of early voting for the 2025 general election, WOSU is breaking down the policies and positions of each of the six candidates on the ballot for the CCS board.
Three seats are up for election after board members Michael Cole, Ramona Reyes and Christina Vera decided not to run for re-election.
Early voting began Tuesday. The election is on Nov. 4.
Why is Kimberley Mason running for school board?
Mason, a higher education partnership manager with the Ohio Bankers League, ran unsuccessfully in 2019. Mason has two children and is a past Parent-Teacher Organization president in the district.
Mason said she is back to run again because the district's situation has not improved.
Mason said she wants to be a school board member who is reflective of the actual school board and of the community itself.
Mason is concerned about public arguments among board members and the lack of community input on major decisions like school closures. She wants to do her part as a parent, advocate and community leader to improve the board.
"We've seen over the past six years how things have really kind of transformed from just discrepancies and arguments...to budget challenges to the community even feeling last to be heard when it comes to the levy and school closures," Mason said.
She said the three new board members will have a large stake to make sure that the district can move forward as it faces difficult decisions in the upcoming budget negotiations.
Mason said the unique perspectives she can bring are being a widow and being someone who can relate to the community from the standpoint of grief and trauma and finding a way to move forward.
Mason said one of the biggest challenges facing the district is rebuilding trust in the community and maintaining a high level of positivity she thinks CCS contains. She said if the right candidates are elected this November, it could transform the district.
"If (the new board members) are individuals who keep student success at the forefront, we could see a maybe historic transformation of Columbus City Schools," Mason said. "That means having students receiving top academic scholarships. That means students continuing their education at lower-increased debt rates. That means students graduating."
Mason talks budget deficit, possible school closures
With the district facing a $50 million budget deficit, Mason would be entering the board and having to contribute to some tough decisions. That could include more school closures, cuts to high school busing and even cuts to staff.
Mason said she looks at this problem from two standpoints: doing some cleanup and staying centered on students.
She said tough decisions will have to be made, which she said she can accomplish.
Mason said she'd support cuts to administration in the district, which makes up roughly 3% of the $1.8 billion budget.
"There's no point of having administrators if you don't have the students successful in the classroom because who's going to be the future administrator? That may not be a role," Mason said.
Mason said cuts should not be falling on the classroom. She said the district can't keep asking students to do more with less.
Mason is in agreement with her five opponents that she would've voted against the last school closure recommendations. The current board voted to close five buildings in the last round of cuts.
Mason did not say whether she thinks more school closures are inevitable.
She said if another school closure process happens while she is on the board, she'd like to see the community more involved with the decisions before recommendations are made.
"By the time the community was learning about this, this was already more the decision-making process as opposed to the conversation," Mason said.
Mason said she is concerned that as Columbus grows, that population growth may put pressure on neighborhoods that have just closed schools. She said re-opening the schools or re-building schools would be costly.
Mason said she supports condensing school sizes in some cases if it makes sense. She said if a school is condensed to use less of the building, that can provide an opportunity to expand again if population growth requires it.
Ohio is also likely to institute new property tax reforms under the Republican-controlled government. Property taxes are one of the primary funders of public schools in Ohio.
Mason said she'd like to advocate for the state not to take away from public schools, but to think about how to plan to support policies that are going to support neighborhood schools.
Mason said she understands the hunger for property tax reform, especially after the last CCS school levy. She said levies aren't fair to senior community and people on a fixed income, many of whom she thinks pushed back on the levy.
Mason said a stronger workforce would fix the problem and provide the district with a better tax base to support the district.
Mason touts 'PAC' platform, wants GPA standards for athletes
Mason's platform is centered on three words: partnership, advancement and conversations. Mason said she wants people to join her "PAC" to cut back on tax breaks for developers, advance workforce development and build and maintain important community partnerships.
"Columbus is one of the top five rising cities. And if we want to continue moving that needle forward, we have to make sure we have self-sufficient adults who can take on and champion the jobs, the trades, the certifications that we need to make the city continue to grow and thrive," Mason said.
Columbus City Schools scored well on workforce and college readiness on the state's annual report cards, earning three stars out of five.
Mason said the best way to address the district's high chronic absenteeism rate of more than 50% is to get students excited to come to school.
Mason said this is where workforce development can play a factor.
"Not everybody wants to go to college. And so at the end of the day, what is going to pique their interest," Mason said. "If we're looking at it from a bigger picture of social economic status, at the the end day, some kids need to be exposed to work that can add value and give them a leveraging standpoint, than maybe some other opportunities that they're being exposed to in their backyard."
Mason said trades and certifications should have never left the classroom. She wants to see the progress CCS has made continued.
Mason said curriculum should also be applicable and reflective of today's culture and climate and make sure it gets students excited to come to school. She said this should be available in schools in all parts of the city.
On tax abatements for developers, Mason said they threaten to weaken the district.
She called them "corporate handouts" and said the taxes take away benefits to nonprofits and community organizations that CCS could fund to support the district and students.
If Mason, or any of the other candidates who criticize tax abatements, want a change on this front, they'd have to find a solution with Columbus City Council, which is where these tax breaks get decided.
Public school boards do have some say and approval powers for tax abatements. But mostly it's a city decision that can zero out property taxes for 10 or 15 years and affect the school district's bottom line.
If Republican Vivek Ramaswamy is elected as Ohio governor next year, he said at an August event in Hilliard that he wants more standards for public schools.
Mason said she doesn't want low standards. She said she would want to look at standardizing a set GPA for athletes. Columbus schools require a 2.0 GPA to play sports, which is on par with Ohio State University.
"So that's where we need to change our standards, because at the end of the day, if we've already set them lower, that means that we've isolated the opportunity for them to continue and move forward," Mason said.
