After posing pointed questions about cost and oversight, the Cleveland school board postponed a decision on whether to share local levy dollars with new partner charter schools — or at all.
The discussion and decision drew enthusiastic approval from a crowd that had attended to protest the recent layoff, driven by the district’s ongoing budget woes, of nearly 300 educators.
The conversation comes at a time where the district, strapped for cash, is closing and merging dozens of public schools as it deals with enrollment declines and an oversaturation of school seats city-wide. Currently, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) partners or sponsors eight charter schools throughout the city and it’s one of the only school districts in Ohio that shares local levy dollars with these schools…