Akron Superintendent Mary Outley used her first 鈥淪tate of the Schools鈥� address at the Akron Press Club Tuesday to call for state and local action on issues facing the district.
She said educators will need to focus on data-driven strategies backed by research to improve low early literacy scores. She also asked parents to read to their children and get them to school on time in light of problems with absenteeism. Outley also called on legislators to fully fund schools, taking aim at school vouchers. The district is part of a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the system.
"As of November, 2025, EdChoice (vouchers) has impacted the APS budget by over $33 million due to local students and their families not choosing Akron Public Schools," she said. "This means through vouchers, Akron's taxpayers are funding private and charter schools who operate independently from our school district."
She said the state must fund "one system," public schools, arguing Ohio's current fair school funding model is not using modern costs of educating students despite costs increasing.
Positives and negatives
Outley highlighted positive changes at the district recently, making a pitch for families to return. The district earned three and a half out of five stars on the annual state report card last year. That score was in part driven by a high score on the school district's premier college and career academy program, where students learn about trades and get job training in school.
She said she wanted to bring students back to the district, which has seen its enrollment drop by thousands of students in recent decades.
"When I tell you that the education we provide and the success of our scholars is on par with those who are considered our biggest competitor for students, it's important," Outley said of suburban schools and private and charter options. "It impacts both our district and those students who could be attending their local school for a truly high quality education. Our report card represents continued forward momentum and reflects the collective efforts of our educators, scholars, family, and community partners."
The district's report card wasn't all positive, however. It earned one star out of five on early literacy, and continues to not meet state standards on student test scores, despite some recent growth in individual subjects like U.S. History.
She noted Akron and Northeast Ohio is seeing a worker shortage, and highlighted jobs that will be available as Akron has received significant funding to become a polymer production hub
"But without a pipeline of students with strong foundational academic skills, these high paying jobs will go to workers from outside our region," Outley said. "Our children will be locked out of the very prosperity being built in their own backyard because they couldn't read proficiently in third grade."
Like many districts in the state, Akron also faces budget challenges. Outley proposed an $11 million budget reduction plan in late February. The cuts, not yet approved, would include three dozen staff positions. She has said $58 million in cuts total will be needed over the next three years to keep the district afloat financially. She said staff will be laid off when asked directly Tuesday.
鈥淏ut has anything been decided on yet? No." she said.
Akron Education Association Pat Shipe said she and Outley agree the state in part is causing Akron's budget troubles.
"Our legislators are starving public schools," Shipe said.
Outley's background
Outley, an educator at the district for more than 30 years, has been a teacher, administrator and held many other positions at the district. She's also a graduate of Akron schools. She was appointed by the board of education to the superintendent role last spring. She had already been the interim superintendent for several months while former Superintendent Michael Robinson was on paid administrative leave.
A district investigation had found Robinson had bullied staff. The board narrowly voted to name Outley the permanent superintendent during the same meeting it voted to separate with Robinson. She told the audience Tuesday she's been building a good relationship with both the board and teacher's union, likening it to "dating" and getting to know another person.
Outley had previously served as the interim superintendent after former Superintendent Fowler-Mack stepped down in 2023. She is the fourth superintendent to serve at the district since 2021.
She said seeing students struggle at the high-poverty urban district has always been hard for her, but also motivated her to try to make a difference.
"I remember, I had a student, (it was) something as simple as Halloween," Outley said. "And she stood by that door and waited for her dad to bring her a Halloween costume. And he never came. Now, don't judge the dad. We don't know if he was at work. We don't know if didn't have the funds. But it's things like that that touch the heart of a child."
