Columbus City Schools on Tuesday formalized its intent to cut another $50 million from its budget, but district officials are continuing to warn these attempts to rein in spending could impact the classroom.
District officials have said since making separate decisions to cut $50 million last year that CCS is trying to avoid impacting the classroom experience for students. The district's teachers union, the Columbus Education Association (CEA), argues the cuts already made are already doing so.
The district voted earlier this year to cut more than 300 positions, including more than 100 substitute teachers. Last year, the district also reduced busing and set in motion plans to close four school buildings.
The cuts planned for this year haven't been decided yet, but it could be similar to what the district did last year. Many of the eliminated staff positions were addressed by cutting open positions or attrition due to retirements, but this year that could change.
On Tuesday, the school board directed the superintendent, treasurer and auditor to identify potential reductions to personnel and non-personnel budget reductions totaling $50 million by the start of the 2027 school year.
CCS Board of Education Chair Antoinette Miranda explained that the cuts will help the district maintain essential services while adhering to its budgetary constraints. She said the list of proposed cuts need to be presented to the board by Dec. 31.
CEA President John Coneglio told WOSU Wednesday last year's cuts are already being felt in the classroom during the third week of school, especially when it comes to class sizes, substitute teachers and special education classrooms.
"It's the third week and I'm hearing from my members that they feel like it's already May," he said.
Coneglio explained that a large amount of open positions at the start of the school year — about 30 total for special education — means substitute teachers that aren't always qualified to teach special education must fill those gaps.
Even then, Coneglio said that while contract language for teachers limits class sizes and state law has certain teacher-student ratios for special education classrooms, state law also has rules requiring these students to be serviced regardless of staffing levels. He said this is an early sign that classroom sizes could increase with more staffing cuts.
"The last thing our district needs to do is cut teachers who are delivering instruction to kids. Class size still matters. You know, a teacher in front of every kid is the most important thing that we can do to educate kids," Coneglio said.
It is Coneglio's job to advocate for the thousands of teachers employed at CCS who teach the 45,000+ students in the state's largest school district. As expected with that role, Coneglio said the district should focus cuts at the top with administrative positions before targeting teachers.
"Those decisions about really cutting the fat at the top should be the first place to start," Coneglio said.
Coneglio said other programs, like electives, could also suffer more under any future cuts.
"The things that kids like to go to school for, right, like art and music and taking the strings course or whatever — that's a huge motivator for kids," Coneglio said. "I sent my daughters to Columbus City Schools and my youngest was definitely one of those folks that just loved her electives, especially in the arts and in the music and things like that."
CCS leaders like Miranda place much of the blame for the district's financial woes on state funding, or the lack of it.
Coneglio said teachers are keeping a close eye on November's election, not just for impacts on school funding, but also each candidate's positions on teachers unions. Coneglio said he thinks Democratic candidate for Ohio governor Amy Acton would act as a gatekeeper to legislation that could hurt public education coming out of the Ohio Statehouse.
Acton is also advocating for the "Fair School Funding Plan" which advocates say would properly fund public schools.
Coneglio is critical of the Ohio General Assembly, which is controlled by a supermajority of Republicans. He also criticized Republican candidate for Ohio governor Vivek Ramaswamy for wanting to get rid of teachers unions.
