Cleveland Metropolitan School District's leaders and Ohio's school funding system were blasted by speakers during a meeting Tuesday in response to the school board approving more than 300 layoffs earlier this month.
The auditorium at Max S. Hayes High School was filled with several hundred raucous district staff and others, many wearing blue Cleveland Teachers Union t-shirts, who packed the public comment session.
Speakers came from a wide variety of schools and had a mix of job titles, from school nurses to teachers to librarians.
Julie Radca, a special education teacher at Marion C. Seltzer School, called out the district's administrative spending, noting "six-figure" executive salaries and recent raises.
"I am asking (Cleveland Schools CEO) Dr. Morgan, the CMSD executive team and the CMSD Board of Education to deeply reflect on their poor financial management that ultimately led to these mass layoffs of beloved staff members in these building closures," she said.
At the top of the meeting, CMSD Board of Education Chair Sara Elaqad recognized that "people are being harmed and feeling harmed, and that there are valid anxieties" around the layoffs and the district's consolidation plan, called "Building Brighter Futures." Leaders have said consolidation is necessary to adjust to years of enrollment decline, state funding challenges and inequitable education outcomes across buildings.
"I want to speak for the board when I say that the decisions that we make, though difficult, have the underlying goal of long-term student success within the constraints that we are operating with," Elaqad said. "And I also want to say that none of us up here take these decisions lightly. We don't make a salary. The school board is unpaid. The school board serves on an volunteer basis, and we are here because we are, we care about education just like you."
Lakisha Tuggle, a school nurse, asked the district to restore the 15 licensed practical nurses who received layoff notices.
"This is not a number on a spreadsheet because we know y'all like data. It is the difference between a student in crisis receiving care or not," she said. "Be wise and save lives because every decision made in this room shows up in the care our students receive next school year."
Hannah Eaton, a school library media specialist who received a layoff notice earlier this month, said the district will not have enough staffing for school libraries.
More than 75 community, college, and career center coordinators, who often assist in school libraries and media centers, received layoff notices. CMSD CEO Warren Morgan said the union's contract stipulated those employees be laid off first in the event of job cuts.
"With the recent changes that were passed by this very board, all that will remain for library services at CMSD moving forward is 12 librarians," Eaton said. "Twelve librarians to serve more than 33,000 students. Twelve librarians, to serve more than 60 schools."
What about school funding ... and the future?
Audience members heckled the board throughout the meeting, questioning the district's direction and leaders' contentions that the layoffs are needed.
Cleveland Teachers Union President Errol Savage said some of the anger should be directed at Ohio's school-funding system, which he said has forced the district to make hard decisions.
"A system of school funding that, we just have to call it as we see it, explicitly pits taxpayers against students, property owners against schools, leaves our urban children behind in general and specifically our Black children," Savage said.
Morgan has said, in total, 410 staff could be laid off. Savage said Tuesday he and Morgan are continuing negotiations that could result in some saved positions.
But Morgan also said the district and the city cannot afford to wait to provide more opportunities for students. He said after consolidation, all high schools will have access to college-credit courses and college and career pathway programs, and more lower-grade schools will have more electives like band.
"All the pain we feel in the system right now in this in this room, I understand that, and there are many kids and families that are hurting, (but) there are generations of families that we have hurt in this community because we have not provided a high quality education," Morgan said. "This did not just happen. This has happened for years, decades. We are in a moment now where we have an opportunity to do something."
Morgan said the district still has more "work to do" even after the layoffs and consolidations as the district continues to run at a deficit. He said CMSD will need to reduce its budget further if the state does not increase funding. Some estimates suggest CMSD is missing out on more than $150 million annually based on Ohio's school funding formula, which has not been fully phased-in by the legislature.
