The Enquirer recently published an opinion piece, “CPS treats every kid the same. That’s the problem” (April 12), arguing that a one-size-fits-all approach to public education should be rejected. The column’s opening sentence states that significant budget cuts are irrelevant to the struggles of Cincinnati Public Schools. But the fact is, CPS faces serious, long-term financial instability through no fault of its own.
Treasurer Mike Gustin said the school district is facing a $101 million budget deficit by 2030 if changes aren’t made. Revenue is expected to stay flat even as costs rise, especially after property tax law changes that were recently passed by the Ohio Legislature. We are not talking about a hypothetical problem; CPS is staring down the barrel at a nine-figure deficit if nothing changes.
CPS has faced budget cuts over the past several years for a variety of reasons. Leading up to the 2025-26 school year, the CPS Board of Education eliminated 100-plus teaching positions that were vacant, and yet the cuts just keep on coming.
School funding in Ohio remains a problem
Believe it or not, the budgetary struggles of CPS are not unique. Public school districts across Ohio have seen the state legislature cut funding and divert public tax dollars to unaccountable charter schools and private religious schools, via the state’s school voucher program. Approximately 330 Ohio public school districts have joined the ‘Vouchers Hurt Ohio’ lawsuit. The lawsuit against our state government argues that school vouchers are a clear violation of Ohio’s constitution, which mandates our state government to appropriately fund public school districts across Ohio.
The districts participating in this lawsuit are located all across Ohio, encompassing rural, suburban and urban districts. If more than half of all public school districts in the state of Ohio are saying vouchers hurt public schools, we should probably listen.
In a 1997 Ohio Supreme Court decision, it was determined that Ohio is unconstitutionally funding schools by utilizing an overreliance on property taxes. Despite this ruling, nothing has been done since 1997 by our state government to resolve our school funding issue. They’ve actually made it worse with the incorporation of charter schools and vouchers. This also goes hand-in-hand with the massive tax cuts our state government has lavished on corporations and billionaires.
The result means local taxpayers are backfilling our state government’s policy failures, and we are paying the price. These policy failures mean higher property taxes as well as more staffing cuts, program cuts and funding gaps for local school districts like CPS.
Far from a one-size-fits-all district
We also must reject the premise of CPS being a “one-size-fits-all” school district. This is a district that educates 35,000 children in 66 school buildings across 91 square miles. The district has a variety of schools that incorporate many different types of curriculum and instruction. The district offers schools with Montessori programming, project-based instruction, and schools that focus on college preparatory instruction.
Moreover, each school and the student population they educate is unique and diverse. CPS is far from a “one-size-fits-all” district, which is why funding is so crucial.
The CPS school board must act now to put a new money levy on the November election ballot. Simply doing nothing will not preserve the system; it will just deepen inequality. When you underfund a system serving the highest-need students, inequality is the result and not just the cause. The board members must recognize that you cannot meet the growing needs of students with flat funding.
When schools are funded appropriately, students succeed. The problem isn’t that CPS only works for some kids. The problem is we haven’t invested enough to make it work for all kids.
Clayton Adams lives in West Price Hill. He is vice president of organizing for the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers and a special education teacher with Cincinnati Public Schools.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Public Schools isn’t failing. It’s underfunded | Opinion
Reporting by Clayton Adams, Opinion contributor / Cincinnati Enquirer
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