Production and distribution of City Club forums and Ideastream Public media are made possible by PNC and the United Black, Fond of Greater Cleveland, Inc.. Hello and welcome to the City Club of Cleveland, where we are devoted to creating conversations of consequence that help democracy thrive.

It's Friday, September 13th, and I am Nick Ammons, leader service, senior vice president and provost at Cleveland State University.

I also have the privilege of serving on the member as a member of the Board of directors of the City Club of Cleveland.

And I'm proud and privilege to serve as a member of the Cleveland Board of Education that oversees the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.

CMS is Ohio's third largest public school system, serving more than 36,000 students.

It's home to state champion, athletic and robotic programs.

The nation's fourth say yes to education district and several innovative community partnerships in both the public and private sectors.

At the same time, the district is also staring down a $110 million budget shortfall by 2027, in part driven due to the loss of COVID ARRA funds and increasing expenses this November.

Cleveland voters will decide on a proposed school levy that would raise $52 million for CMT Schools annually.

CMT is also asking for a 35 year extension on an existing bond issue for district leadership.

The stakes are high in an era where family budgets are tight and rising property values complicate the issue.

Today, we will hear directly from CMT and Area leadership to understand both the levy and the bond issue better and learn exactly how each each plans to invest in Cleveland students and future.

On stage with us is Shakorie Davis, president of Next Generation Construction.

Sara Elaqad, executive director of Minds Matter Cleveland and chair of the Cleveland Board of Education.

And Dr. Warren G. Morgan, CEO of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.

Moderating the conversation today is Katie Ussin, anchor at News five Cleveland.

If you have a question for our panelists, you can text it to 3305415794.

That's 3305415794.

And City Club staff will try to work it into the second half of the program.

Members and Friends of the City Club of Cleveland please join me in welcoming Dr. Warren Morgan, Sara Elaqad and Shakorie Davis.

Katie.

All right, good afternoon.

Thank you so much for the introductions and setting the scene for us today about what we will be discussing such an important topic.

But first, if you don't mind, really quick, we want to talk about a little bit of news of the day that came out today, the report card.

So, Dr. Warren, let's talk with you, shifted to you really quick.

Talk to us about the encouraging news we heard today regarding CMT and the report card.

Yes.

Thank you so much.

I'm so excited to announce to our community and many of you have probably heard that.

See, MSD for the first time in history is meeting state standards and is a three star district.

So let's give the community a round of applause.

This a truly takes a village and, you know, we'll be hearing more about the progress and other updates and about the community efforts at the state of the school coming up on October 1st.

But I also see that we have scholars in the House, and I want you to put another round of applause because it was their performance, their work that delivered this, as well as our educators and leaders.

So thank you.

Yeah, certainly a nice bright spot to start the day after day.

All right.

Let's get back first before we that's kind of it's the nice Segway right into Shikari, if you don't mind.

Quickly, I want to talk about you for a moment because you are a see in the city alum and founder, now president of Next Generation Construction, a $30 million enterprise based in Cleveland and one of the largest minority owned businesses here in northeast Ohio.

And I know you have said how important your public school education committee was to you.

Yes.

So not only myself, I got to boast a little bit, but I have two see grads, both who have biology degrees and one is going to med school and the other one actually works for the clinic and continuing education at exam year.

My wife is a chemist Grant.

My mom is a CMC grad and I employ MSD student, so I'm invested in the process.

So let's get now to the Cleveland Schools Tax levy, issue 49 on your ballot.

Dr. Morgan Sara, talk to us about what measures have been taken by MSD to address the budget shortfall before turning to this levy?

Yeah, So first I want to underscore what Dr. Morgan shared and how important the community has been to the success.

So this has been a long term effort of getting to this place of meeting state standards, having that three stars.

There is no silver bullet and education.

And the young people in this room who have worked really hard to do well, to achieve, to learn are a key part of that.

But also our educators, our leaders, our partners, our nonprofit partners are our voters, right?

The people who have voted to resource this school district time and again are the reason that we're able to talk about that success today.

Talking about the budget, the board has been really careful over the last several years.

I've sort of served on this board for five and a half years, and every year, twice a year, we're looking at the budget.

We're looking at how we can deliver what our students and our educators need to be successful.

Also being really responsible with the public dollars that we're tasked with stewarding.

And so we've looked at making cuts.

We've made $80 million in cuts over the last year of planning, and we want to continue the momentum that we have and we're coming to the community with the ask for a single issue, issue 49 that will be on the ballot this year.

And Dr. Morgan can't say it, but I hope that folks will support it.

There will be two matters on the issue.

One, an operating levy.

That's going to be how we fund our programs, how we make sure that our students continue to achieve in academics, in math, science, reading, writing, and then the the bond issue, which is an extension of the bond that we already have.

And that is really critical to ensuring that we have the facilities that we need.

So our students are in safe, adequate buildings, the kind of buildings that foster the ability to learn and buildings that are the right size for our student population.

You know, the the only thing I would add to that piece is when we were looking at our budget and as you guys know, as a district, we have to submit a five year forecast twice in a year, once in November, once in May and last November, when we submitted our five year forecast, we showed a deficit.

So we're coming up actually starting this school year.

So all the cuts that you heard about last year, we knew that if we didn't make cuts last year at the central office, we were at risk of being taken over by the state.

And so we made those cuts.

We made cuts at central office at the last year, state of the schools.

I made a commitment that our central office will be cut by ten percentage points, by ten by 10%.

We exceeded that by 12.6%.

But we do know as Dr. Shridhar so even with the work that we've done by 2027, we're showing a budget deficit, our budget shortfall at the end of the school year of $110 million, this levy would raise $52 million a year over ten years.

That alone also still will not solve all of the district's financial issues.

So there's work that we're doing.

We're not only asking the community to help us with our budget shortfall, there's work that we're doing when it comes to looking at our programs, when it comes to looking at our building footprint, when it comes to looking at school optimization.

So this is definitely a collective effort.

And I see one of our scholars hands and there will be there will be time for questions.

I want to make sure we can get get your questions.

Yes, there will.

In the second half hour, we will get to two questions.

So, you know, I was going to say from a business perspective, Cleveland Metro School District definitely plays a central role in shaping the future leaders and also the future workforce of northeast Ohio and our communities in particular.

And more and more as we continue to travel around the country, we're starting to see that the quality of the education system really impacts the local development and in our communities nowadays and also to prosperity as well.

So we believe in investing in CMS D, which as Dr. Morgan just said, we're starting to see the fruits of our labor and we realize that an investment in the kids is a investment in a family system, it's an investment in consumers, the economy.

And quite frankly, we need talent here in northeast Ohio, not just today, but we'll need it ten years from now.

So we're kind of looking at it as a long term strategy, a long term investment from the businesses and the community.

I want to dig into that more with you in just a moment.

But first, can we go back to the levy for a moment?

And many Cuyahoga County residents saw their property tax valuations rise significantly in our current appraisal period.

So how do you overcome then, the burden of asking these residents for more funds in that same year?

Yeah.

Thank you for that.

Question is probably one of the biggest questions we get around How do the property valuations actually impact the levy?

And it doesn't because we actually went out for the levy before the reappraised tax went out.

So this levy is based on old tax rates and not on the new amounts.

And so that is one of the biggest things We also want to make sure we share and we we share that with people.

We do understand that it is it's tough times for everyone.

Yeah, this is this is a hard time and it's it is a commitment when people are asking when we're asking, hey, what does that investment look like?

But to the point when we're saying for the first time, our district and our scholars are meeting state standards because of the collective work in the commitment we've done, there's no better time now than ever to continue that investment in the progress of our of our students.

While the district also continues to make tough decisions, we're not just asking the community to bear this on its own.

The district is making tough decisions.

We've made tough decisions this past year and we will continue to make those tough decisions while keeping our scholars in mind in the progress that we want to make in mind.

A lot of times, Dr. Morgan, to people wonder if this doesn't pass, then what?

What are the tough decisions then that your district faces?

Yeah, there are already tough decisions ahead of us.

As I mentioned, the amount that we're asking for doesn't nearly cover all of the expenses over time.

And all it does if it does not pass is it pushes a lot of those tough decisions up even closer.

You know, some of the amounts looking to the tune of, you know, 700 or so a staff at the school level, teachers and those are things we don't want to do.

Last year when we made cuts, we made them at the central office level and we said, you know, we want to protect schools as much as possible, keeping the school based budgeting flat.

And that was an intentional choice because our district strategy is embedded in the instructional core.

So when you think about the progress that we made, everything is really focused on the instruction that happens in the classroom, the support we give to teachers and programs that we can give to students.

And if we have to make those cuts at the classroom, it doesn't sustain the progress that we're looking to make over time.

I know something I hear a lot to voters will say the schools already get enough money there.

Okay.

How do you respond to that?

You know, it will be interesting if you ask any educator who is asked to do so much with so little in the resources, you know, even when we think about how we're funded at the state level there, there's more that can even be done in terms of the resources that we bring in.

Some often at some people often ask like, why does it cost so much sometimes to educate a student in Cleveland versus some other districts or private schools.

And when we think about our district being majority students in socioeconomic status of poverty, majority of our students, if not all students, are qualifying for free and reduced lunch are the numbers of students that are in special education and then also the number of students that are English language learners.

The bar is still the same.

We want all kids to achieve and have a high quality education they need and deserve.

But the resources it takes to ensure that they get there on time and on track.

It takes resources.

It takes support.

And, you know, any educator, any teacher in the classroom, school leader will tell you the challenges that they face every day.

And you see that they're doing it.

They're overcoming those challenges, and our scholars are succeeding.

I want to add on to that.

You know, not just that we ask a lot of teachers, but we ask a lot of schools, Right.

Look at the last few years with COVID and how much Christie took on to support our families and our students alongside our partners.

Right.

The schools are the place where we build the future.

And here in Cleveland being, you know, just came out.

We're the second poorest city in the country.

We need resources to do that.

There are lots of things that families are facing, and we do look to schools to support them through all that.

And so resourcing those schools is incredibly important.

Sara, I want to stay on you for just a moment.

You mentioned it very briefly in your earlier remarks, but I just want to clarify so everyone's clear on it.

The levy and the bond issue.

The bond issue is a renewal.

It is not a new tax.

If you really could just succinctly, what how are they different?

What do they cover?

Mm hmm.

Sure.

So on a general level, the bond covers facilities, things related to facilities.

So thinking about making sure that we can continue to have the facilities that our student needs, other students need update our buildings right size our footprint.

It's incredibly important that as districts think about the size of schools that we are thinking about, the way that those schools, the way that they're resource in terms of teachers, the right number of teachers for student capacity and the operating on the bond will allow us to do that.

The operating levy is about programs, so it's about what kind of academic resources we can provide in the building, how we're equipping teachers to do well when it comes to their day to day jobs, everything that you expect of a school to be doing, those are the things that are funded by a levy and those special programs that we hold so dear in Cleveland.

Right like our are say US partnerships are additional out-of-school time help.

Those things are also funded by operating dollars.

And would you like to explain why these two are combined on the ballot?

They're combined because we need them.

Bottom line, we need them both in order to continue the momentum that we've got.

And what Dr. Morgan was saying earlier, we absolutely cannot go back if we have to make more cuts.

It's going to be incredibly detrimental to our students and to the future of our city.

All right.

Let's talk a little bit more about what you were getting into, about the why, about really selling and making the case as to why this is so critical.

A little bit more about exactly how the money will be used and then what that does for not only the district, but our city.

Oh, yes, I can echo that.

We need it.

We're starting to see traction not only in the community, but as you can see by metrics and report cards that are in place.

But as a business leader, I'm seeing firsthand how the business community, the CMS city, are starting to strengthen in that strip strip and then that connection, and it's starting to resonate a little bit more.

Just a few examples of how the business community is starting to gain access to the CMS.

The pool is through the architecture.

I'm selfish, so I'll talk about construction, but through the ACE program, which is really gaining a lot of traction, it's a national program that we're connected to here in northeast Ohio.

You also have NextGen Race restructuring in particular.

We have a partnership with WIU, what we bring on five or six interns from CMS D every year to teach them the soft skill of construction.

So that's estimating project management, blueprint, reading and teach them that there's two sides to the construction industry, not only the professional side, but also the the guys who go out there and build, build the building.

So we're seeing that traction there.

Also, you know, with the Construction Employee Association and partnering with Dr. Richards or Dean Richards over at Cleveland State University.

So a lot of contractors have gotten together and we financed the program with partnering with Cleveland State universities, making them a four year institution for construction management.

So that's not to cannibalize the Kent State program, but to kind of complement that.

So we're excited about the traction we're making and we don't want to lose it.

So we support this levy wholeheartedly.

I was going to say, we report so much on talking about filling that pipeline.

We have so many open jobs and we want to prepare our kids who are here so they can fill those jobs.

Good paying jobs, jobs that have benefits, health care.

They can raise a family on, buy a home here and stay and thrive in Cleveland.

What kind of progress?

You were just kind of laying it out, though.

Have you seen over the past five or six, maybe even more recent years?

Oh, wow.

So once again, I guess just selfish about my company.

So we're a construction company, but our company, we we we build we build hospitals.

So next generation construction in particular, we were the first construction company period to do a double room.

I'm sorry, a double MRI replacement for Cleveland Clinic.

It was a CMS student who estimated that who actually did the free construction on that Sherwin-Williams build it downtown.

We're doing the core construction in that building.

It's this MSD student who is actually the project engineer on that project.

Kovac came out with University Hospital, gave us their program.

Right.

It's a CMS MSD student who actually implemented that that that that program.

So it's a lot of things happening behind the scenes that doesn't necessarily get reported, but I am extremely intentional about making sure that CMS D plays a strong road and role in the construction industry.

It hopefully is is it sucks that a levee has to, you know, highlight a lot of the good traction this happened behind the scene.

But that's a lot happened and once again we don't want that traction this that just selfishly I'll tell a story too about that kind of I did a story with a young man, a Cleveland high school students and he was really excited about the quantum computer that is here in Cleveland.

And because of his gusto and his knowledge and his power, he was able to snag the first internship.

He actually they modeled the internship program around him because of him.

He is now off doing great things.

But that is inspiring to see.

We have so many great minds that are just waiting to explode and open up here talking about Shakeri being selfish, he I want to share if it's okay.

Something that you shared with me earlier, while we were kind of waiting to step out here about progress.

Right.

So just in your own family, you talked about obviously you've been incredibly successful, someone for our students to look up to, but you shared about, you know, you and your wife got trade certifications, right?

And then your kids we just heard about went to college, got biology, biology degrees, one of them went to med school.

Incredible success.

Exactly what a parent always wants for their kids is that they have more opportunities than they themselves did.

Right.

And we know that there are lots of different ways to be successful.

But it's important for our students to have more opportunities of different ways they can be successful because they have that educational foundation and those partnerships and those programs that we can put in front of them so that there is more for the next generation, right?

Like that's why we're all here to do better for the next generation, all pun intended, right?

That's why the name of my company, it's next Generation Construction.

So I like that.

So Sara Corey kind of talked about the private sector investment and will to really see our school districts, you know, thrive.

What about the nonprofit segment?

I know you have great expertise.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So obviously I work for college success nonprofit.

Fun fact the school board is not a job.

It's a volunteer role.

But shout out to my fellow board members who are here today.

But we've got incredible investment across our nonprofit community.

The ecosystem here in Cleveland is really special, where we've got so many partners who have banded together to support our kids in so many different ways, right?

Whether it's in school, out of school, any other time that you can name.

We've got people who are doing incredible work to make sure that our students are successful, not just in reading, writing, arithmetic, but in building outside skills, social skills, getting access to exposure to college and everything else that they need to be successful.

So really, you know, I think that Cleveland is really unique and special in that we've got these incredible public private partnerships, whether it's with business or our nonprofit partners.

We're really fortunate to have that and we want to continue being able to fund and support those partnerships.

Going back to what you said it is, it takes a village and certainly MSD is like a city within a city.

Dr. Morgan, Talk to us too, about the teachers, the parents, the families, getting them on board and invested and feeling like they are part of this as well.

Yeah, you know, we have such an engaged community.

That's one of the things I love about Cleveland.

And, you know, we see our scholars that are out here.

We have one of the largest student advisory councils, definitely within the state, maybe within the country where our student voice is really enacting.

They are a group that pushes us and help us think about not only policy but the needs that are top of mind for them.

And I'm not only seeing that at the district level, but I'm also seeing the advocacy happening within their buildings.

And, you know, going back to the point of all the progress that is happening and sometimes needing waiting for a levy or waiting for, you know, you know, big news to come out.

There's great things that are happening every day.

And we want to make sure that we're continuing to highlight those stories of our students, our parent ambassadors.

We have parent ambassadors, over 100 parent ambassadors that are connected to schools who are supporting our work.

They're they're the reason why we're getting ready to do our Step up for Kids rally, where we're going to be canvasing on Saturday, September 21st.

And was that idea came from a parent.

Last year I was doing the listening learning tour from the parents and the parents said, we need to be out in the streets getting kids back into school, advocating for attendance.

So this misconception that students aren't engaged or that students aren't learning or that the system is failing or their parents aren't engaged, let's debunk that myth right now because our scholars are brilliant.

Our scholars are showing progress, our parents are engaged, and we're pushing the work forward.

Now, have we arrived?

No.

Even with this great progress that we have celebrating today, there's there are other milestones.

There's other work we have to do to continue this progress.

But it's been this community that has invested in us over time that allowed us to get to this point.

And we just need to continue that trajectory and also celebrating the brilliance of our community and the work that we can do collectively is when we hear people say negative things about our scholars or about our parents or about our community, we need to be telling the positive news.

We need to be sharing the stories and lifting up those stories of kids.

You know, think about your minds matter.

Students We have several students attending Ivy Leagues right now.

In the fall, I think of Chardon Black, who is now at Princeton and so many other scholars.

Our college application rate went percentage rate went up eight percentage points last year.

And we're in talks now about how we can have seamless enrollment with, you know, some of our local colleges so that all kids can think about getting into college once they graduate from high school.

This is the work we need to be doing collectively, and it's showing the brilliance of our community.

And it's due to the investment, the partnerships, the resources that have come in that allows us to do this.

Looking forward to the state of the school coming October 1st to hear a lot more.

I know I have so many questions too.

So which will be held for that day because I'm sorry, did you have something you wanted to add on that?

Oh, no, I was going to I was going to post again.

So if you go back to laboratory, laboratory Case Western Project that I'm in a joint venture with Turner Construction, my project manager from there, that project, he's the East Tech grad, his name is James Jackson.

So once again, you guys are doing a great job.

We can always do better, right?

We can't.

But kudos need to be in place when you start to see progress.

But just speaking a little bit more to the OP.

So of course, a greater client partnership is one of the largest chambers in the country and I'm fortunate enough to sit on the board and if anybody, if you ever want me in the board, make sure you know I'm going to be nosy.

So one one of the things idea was kind of look at how we've supported CMS over the years going back from 2012, 2014, 2016 with the renewal even in 2020 with the 5% increase.

And now.

Right.

We're starting to see the traction we need to keep the momentum going and trust in a process.

I think the mayor put a great leader in place and I think we have a very strong board.

So it's painful now, but I think we'll really start seeing that progress in next next few years.

Okay.

We have like 2 minutes before we're going to turn it over to the Q&A.

Is there anything I ask you three, our panelists that I didn't ask you or any point we didn't touch on in regard to the tax levy and the bond issue that you would like to to button up.

You know, one of the things I'll just underscore in terms of need, it is really important for the resources.

Now, we're only going to the community because it's an absolute need.

I tell people all the time, you know, no one steps into a role as a new CEO and says, hey, one, we want to make budget cuts, too.

We need to negotiate all of our contracts in the first year, union contracts.

And three, we want to go out to the community and ask for money.

Like those are not things you sign up and say that's that's what you want to do in the first couple of years of your of being a CEO.

So we're only doing this because we absolutely need to and we believe it's the right thing we need to do for our scholars.

And we're seeing the progress.

So we're working hard on our on our side.

We're making the tough decisions.

You saw the work we did last year and the progress that happened from last year.

So continue to think about this investment because we're doing the hard work on our side to provide the education for our kids.

And I know our community has come alongside and partner with us in the in the past and we're just, you know, continuing to ask for that.

Yeah, I would say on behalf of the Board of Education, we take it very seriously when we have to come to the community to ask for a vote on a levy like this is not a light topic.

You know, we looked at the dollars over many years.

If you go back several years back looking at school board meetings, you'll say you'll see that we're talking about, you know, we may have to ask for a levy.

What can we do as we're planning now?

And then we even thought about the timing of it in this election versus next year, whereas next year would have been those new property evaluations that we know have gone up.

And so this was the year so that it wouldn't be quite as painful.

Right.

We're looking at $3.73 a week for the median median home owner.

And we're looking to support our students.

And we know that, you know, it.

It certainly feels like times have been tough.

Right?

But do we want times to be tough for our children in, the future or can we do what we need to do now, including cuts, including the board, continuing to take a careful look at the budget?

You know, when we think about it, everything's on the table as we think about what do we need to change, But we also need this new dollar, this new funding.

Life is a competition.

See it every single day.

We need to make the investments in our economy.

And I think this is a great step forward.

So was that a big.

Because no matter which way it was.

Perfect timing.

Exactly.

Yes.

You came in just under the plate of the bell chorus.

So that was perfect.

Thank you.

So, yes, it is about 1230.

So we are about to begin the audience Q&A and for our live stream and radio audience or those just joining us again, I'm to use an anchor and reporter at News five Cleveland.

Glad to be here to moderate today's forum at the City Club of Cleveland.

We are talking about the CMC school levy that will be on Cleveland's November ballot.

So joining us again is Corey Davis, president of Next Generation Construction, Sara Ellicott, executive director of Minds and Matter, Cleveland and chair of the CMC Board of Education.

And of course, Dr. Warren G. Morgan, CEO of Cleveland Metropolitan School District.

So right now we welcome questions from everyone, city club member guests and those joining via our livestream at City Club dot org or radio broadcast at 89.7 Ideastream Public Media.

Also too, if you would like to text a question for our panelists up here or speakers, please text it to 330541579.

Get a pen.

That again is 3305415794.

And the City club staff here will be trying to work into the program.

So we appreciate them so much.

All right.

May we have our first question, please?

First of all, congratulations, Doctor.

Is this okay?

Congratulations on the report card, doctor and school board and administrators and students.

My question is, I know when we first had the Bonnie Levy that the state of Ohio was kicking in, and that was one of the incentives for us to go out first to get the voters to say, yes to the levy.

I mean, to the bond.

Is it we know the state of Ohio, what we know from a city standpoint, they're cutting, cutting local.

But will they still will they still match what we do as it relates to the bond from the state of Ohio if it passes?

Yeah, that's a great question.

We do the work that we do with the bond accountability and FCC.

And so I can get you I can follow up with the specific to your specific question about the match.

But I do know we still have that support with the bond accountability, the work that we do with the bond accountability and the work that happens with getting supporting our facilities in the work that is taking place.

But I'll get that specific on the on the match.

But the bond accountability is not going away in that commission.

And also our FCC and the support we get from them is not going away.

Hey, my name Ramil.

I think Kahlua and I would like to know what occurs.

Did you make set a budget this school year?

Most definitely.

Thank you for that.

Were you are you 24 to 20?

2525?

You're looking forward to celebrating class 25 soon.

So the cuts we primarily made were at the central office when we we had the RSA dollars, our Esser dollars that we got during the pandemic, which were dollars that lasted for three years and it allowed us to do some extraordinary things, was a half a billion dollars that we nearly got nearly half a billion dollars, and we got to do investments to help with the pandemic recovery, those dollars.

And so those dollars went away.

So there were some programs that we had do the ASR that we we we closed, but we primarily made cuts at central office.

There were some tough decisions we had to make around staff at the central office.

There were some tough decisions we had to make around how some programmatic things would take place.

There's some structures we had to put in place that hadn't been put in before, such as how we spin things, travel, you know, different things.

We spend that we put in place structures in place to monitor our spending moving forward.

But those were the cuts we made primarily at the school level.

Every school gets money, so your principal gets money to determine your school based budget.

Those dollars remain flat.

But the primary, the the main way we get dollars at the school is based on how many students are in your school.

So when enrollment is low, when school funding is low in school, we do make a commitment at the central office for some of our really small schools that we come alongside and support them.

But we're looking at our funding model as we move forward.

But that's high level.

You know, some of the cuts that we've made and decisions we're making moving forward request of.

Good afternoon.

Okay, Congratulations.

Having taught in Cleveland for 40 years.

I just love hearing that wonderful news.

So congratulations to you and to the students and the families and teachers and everybody this year, I think will be one of the easiest elections to get students involved in because of the very serious contrast between the presidential candidates.

Also in Ohio, the Ohio Supreme Court candidates are on the ballot.

And we know that there are going to be issues that will eventually land in the Ohio Supreme Court, like abortion, the gerrymandering, the unconstitutional school voucher issue.

So question to you is what is the plan to involve students in the election?

It's really I know we have a civics 2.0 in the Cleveland district.

I don't know what kind of funding that's getting now, but it's been very effective in involving students in in elections.

And I'm just wondering, what is the vision now to involve our students?

I can definitely starting off this year, just keep it simple, every part.

Okay.

So in general, just some things we've been doing.

Civics 2.0 yes, we the Civics 2.0 is actually helping.

We register our seniors to vote.

We've also, through the open houses that we've had, we've been working with organizations such as the Divine Nine have been coming out to our schools and doing voter registration.

So we've been really working to get that.

If I have any seniors, in the House and you're turning 18, making sure you have not done so to get registered to vote.

But we've been working school by school and with some of our partner organizations to support that effort as well.

More specific to the levy election matter.

And I trying to look out for Dr. Morgan because he you know, due to state regulations, he can't really talk about this.

But we have a separate committee, the Citizens for our Children's Future, who are an independent committee that is running the Levy campaign and students can all that we can't we are not asking students and schools to do it, but anybody who wants to get involved in any kind of work around the levy, whether it's canvasing phone baking, can go to vote for Cleveland schools dot org and get more information, but also sign up to get involved in that civic process.

This year.

Oh, hi.

Somebody said everything is on the table.

Nobody has talked about vouchers.

It's all being on the table.

That is money that is siphoned off of the schools and given to mostly the Catholic Church.

Is that on the table?

I guess is the first question.

And given the Catholic Church, the Catholic Church's history, of raping children and covering it up like is that not appropriate to be on the table to be withdrawn?

Yeah, good question.

That's a little bit outside of what we have power over in the school district.

But it is you know, if that's something that voters or community members want to take a stronger look at and work on, that's absolutely something that's available, but it's not something that we actually have, unfortunately, any control over at the district level.

Who has control the state legislature.

Okay.

Thank you.

I'm always so nervous on this side of the microphone.

My child is a student at our partner charter school in the near west side of Cleveland.

And overall, it has been a wonderful experience for her.

She is thriving, she's doing great and she loves where she is.

As of this year, however, there are no structured afterschool programs offered and our family and I'm sure almost all of the other families at the school are trying to figure out and by trying, I mean scrambling to figure out how to get her most days at 3 p.m. at our school, teachers are stepping up to fill some of the void.

I've heard other schools who are offering programs that parents have to pay to participate in.

This is not a tenable situation.

I imagine for the majority of Cleveland families, I am going to vote for the levy because as you mentioned, the alternative is worse and also because levies are important to support our students and our school and our city.

But how do I talk to families at our school and our school community about them voting for it when it feels like the district is not working for our working families?

And how does passing this levy address the lack of these types of programs?

Our families need to be able to thrive and for some to stay in the district and the city.

Thank you for that question.

Yeah, we might be your name again.

I'm Carrie Miller.

Carrie, Thanks for that question.

Katie was a great one a few things with that one.

Our partner Charters, they come alongside are historically and continued in this levy are part of the levy.

So get the resources when those come in and also the our partner charters though part of the district also has, you know really autonomy for their structure and different things that they could do for the prom program.

So I can't speak specifically in terms of what's happening with the afterschool programing at your school, but I will talk broadly about afterschool programing because that was one of the things that people may know.

You know, last year with Esser, we were able to partner with a lot of outside organizations because we had the Esser Resources in dollars and see them is what we've done.

We've been able to keep our district run afterschool programs.

So anyone that teachers are sponsoring our athletic programs, I can always say we can always increase more after schools are really important.

I tell people all the time, even from my personal extracurriculars and after schools like saved my life and got me to where I am today.

And so that's an investment we want to make.

I would like to know, you know, this is not a question to you, but a question I would like to take on just what our partner charter is, how they are using it, what are their struggles.

So we may can even follow up.

We don't have direct autonomy in terms of some of those programmatic work at our in our partner charters.

But it's a great question and one that we will want to think about, you know, how what supports are needed and what aren't, where some of those gaps.

So thank you for that.

I'm Agatha Marshall, part of public schools and we were the bar.

I was honored.

I got a full scholarship to Carnegie Mellon University.

I'm an alumni, so we got a big plea.

People for people to support the schools.

I mean, I'm not understanding.

It sounds like we're in crisis mode or something.

Are we or are we not?

And I don't understand it.

And I was a teacher in a public school system once.

The answer was of what was happening was really going on.

Mm.

No, thank you.

Well, you know, to start, public schools are funded by a variety of different formulas that involve the federal government, the state legislature, and not necessarily by what the district is deciding about, like what dollars they have access to.

So we have access to the dollars that we have access to.

That said, like Dr. Morgan talked about public schools, also like we take we take every student, right.

We don't turn away a student.

And in our schools that means we are providing additional supports for our English language learners, our students with disabilities, and just looking to support families as they are, as they come in, as they enroll, we can't turn them away.

And so we've got to do a lot with those dollars that are allocated to us by outside parties.

Right Thing to add?

Yeah, I would just say, I mean, you're right.

Your question is, I hear it also just sounds like a rallying cry for our community of just like the importance of continued support for education.

And so I thank you for the question and also thank you for your service, not only as a alum of committee, but also as a teacher.

And just to I sorry, I appreciate that question or that speaker as well, because like when we think about who is funded by these dollars, who the schools are serving, these are our neighbors, right?

Like our neighbors are the children are the alumni.

It is us.

It is not a separate group of like those kids are needing more money.

It's our kids, it's our people, our community.

And I was going to kind of elaborate off of what you just said.

Right.

So my mother is my mother in law is my you know, my nephews my brother.

So having that boat conversation that you just in that boat talk how you exactly how you put it, we sometimes we assume that invest investing is normal.

Right?

That's actually an educational piece in itself.

And it's kind of hard to think about investing when there's hard times right now.

But we're here collectively.

Right?

And I know I spoke about the business community I have a question about how funding is distributed to schools.

As a student athlete myself, I've seen certain things like because I'm playing football this year right?

There is a lack of equipment and you know of nowadays, a lot of sports require certain equipment to be safe, but a lot of kids can't afford that safety or need the funding for those type of things.

I was asking, how is the money distributed to schools?

Oh, great, great question.

I'm what makes I'm saying it right.

Can Kamara more.

Q Marian and your grade in school?

11th 11th school you said what's your common word?

Okay.

Thanks.

Thank you for for that question.

And I'll begin to elaborate on it, but I also will put a pin on that because that's also a big part we're gonna be talking about at the state of the schools, because that comes down to the student experience.

And we do have athletic programs in some of our domestic schools not all.

We do have certain programs such as band and music at some CMA schools singing misty schools in that all.

So when I talk about the future of CMT, we talk about every school, every neighborhood, every scholar.

We need to make sure that we have the programing, the resources, the the quality that you can compete.

Because I know it sounds like you said, Hey, I want to make sure we're competitive on our football team so that we have those resources.

And so it's definitely a need.

We do have an athletic department in and funds are distributed across from those athletic schools, from from the athletic departments, mainly based on enrollment of schools.

But it is a area we need to work on.

And so I'll put a pin on that because we're gonna be talking more about that at the state of the schools.

Thanks for that question and good luck this season.

Hello, we have a text question.

All right, Zachary, this one's for you.

Okay.

When budgets are tight, often the trades are the first to see cuts in classrooms.

Will the levy pass, help boost programs in manufacturing, mechanics and other trades that are great options for students who may not be ready, can afford or want to go to college?

And for Zachary, how will this help businesses like yours?

Oh, that's a very good question.

So I can't answer how is what's going to happen when budgets get tight?

I mean, if I was in charge, I think I will put trades over college.

Sorry.

Yeah.

At least will work.

Well, essentially low college and career.

Okay.

College and career.

Okay.

But I think that Mayor Bibb definitely invested the ARPA dollars correctly.

Well, pour a portion of that into the Cleveland bill system.

I sit on the board of Cleveland.

Cleveland Bills, and we have a relationship with CMS D where there's a pipeline into getting to the trades.

And real quick about the trades.

Got to throw that out there.

So in the first four years as a tradesman, you know, going through Cleveland bills, the union tradesman first four years you make $200,000, 200 as everybody, no matter who you are, no matter how long you've been in there.

Right.

And also you get a two year associates program, a degree or the credits that that will prepare you for, continue education if you want to.

So the trace is a very good option and through Cleveland bills and our relationship with the mayor's administration and Cleveland Metro School District and also even the investment in magnet.

Right.

So we're making those investments.

But I can't tell the CEO over here what you know, how to navigate those dollars.

So but it is it's working and we're working together.

I mean, the only thing I would add to that point, yeah, we we definitely have philosophy in college and career.

And so it is important that the the trades are a big part of this.

We hear often about trades programs that can come to the east side and accessibility for the biggest thing that we want to work on is how do we create the academic programing?

And I heard Terry Ellicott mentioned this that creates opportunities for scholars and giving them the choice and not determining that like the adults in this room saying, Hey, you do this or you do that, or I'm going to place this program in your school and this is what you're going to do.

We need to give them the options and give them the experiences so that they can choose.

And I love even just what you just said that was both college and career, because you said there's a opportunity there for the associate's degree.

And so just how those partnerships can happen.

I know the mayor is really big on this in terms of what does that work base learning look like while they're actually still in high school?

That leads to pathways.

And so yeah, definitely alignment there and definitely at work that we want to continue to do.

This question is a little bit more for ASADA and if you're interested and have an answer, you know, a lot of my work, especially now, is around helping build civic and voter education within our communities, and especially because there is mistrust in the systems and I think that could play a factor in other port issues like the levy and other issues outside of just the voting along the Presidential House and all the other important races that will be on our ballots.

But in the age of misinformation and disinformation, especially around a topic like this school abuse, how could somebody who was interested in learning more easily obtain the information that was shared today that are not listening, watching are here today?

And for those who are supporting issue one, how can they easily access information to distribute it to their communities if they really would like to make sure that people are aware of, you know, what exactly the levy is, what it will do and what it won't do.

It's a vote for Cleveland School Board issue 49.

If you live in Cleveland, it will be the second to last issue on your ballot and at the website.

Great question.

You can get information, you can sign up for any number of different ways to get involved.

You can reach out and ask questions.

You can get a yard sign.

People who know me know I love yard signs.

You can canvass you can phone bank.

And then there's ways you can also reach out for more information.

We'll be sticking around after this forum.

Our community is going to be getting out most Saturdays over the next several months until the election.

And, you know, people will be at your door, ask questions.

We're we're here to talk.

Hello, my name is Caroline Peake.

I serve on the Biden Accountability Commission and I'm also a parent of two graduates from Cleveland Public Schools.

Collingwood and one of my sons has served 22 years in U.S. Marines and as an officer now currently serving in Okinawa, Japan.

So I like what I hear about college and careers because there are several options for our students as they go through the the halls of our of our schools.

And he was a great partner with Collingwood High School at that time and I'm hoping that we continue with some of those partnerships to alleviate some of the burden of educating our children.

But my question today is how does this levy will continue?

Safety is an issue for many of us in the community and parents.

How does this levy continue to support the safety of our children as they attend our schools?

Oh yes, thank you for that question.

Safety is just so top of mind.

Not only was it the number one piece of feedback that we heard on the listening and learning together they did last year, which is why when it comes to our strategic priorities, it's our first strategic priority in our strategic plan.

And then you hear about things that happen at the school in Georgia just a week or so ago.

It it hurts my heart and, you know, when we think about safety in our schools is so important and there's a lot of resources that we put in to our schools to keep them safe, We you know, we have metal detectors in all of our buildings.

We have our own police department and security school resource officers in our buildings that are keeping our buildings safe.

And I'm so glad that those systems are working.

But there's if you talk to school leaders, you could talk about how over time there are not as many resource officers that were, you know, in their building or, you know, times when we need extra support to schools for police officers, it's an area we need more supports on.

And not only just on the reactive side, but I also get more information around student mental health in educator, mental health and social emotional learning supports that we need.

And so we've been grateful that we've been able to stand up the Integrated Health Committee with its Cleveland Metropolitan School District.

We have other health care organizations that are involved in that.

I know Cleveland and Gun Foundation.

Many of our partners here in CTU, led by Cyril Bronski, are big part of that integrated health work that we're doing, making sure that kids have access to a nurse, but also has access to mental health resources and supports.

Those are all work that we were able to do even with the last let me to to stand that up.

And that's work we want to continue on.

So this is a big part of the work we're going to continue to do, making sure our schools are safe.

And it is top of mind for us.

It's our first strategic priority.

Thank you, Zachary Davis.

Sara Wilcox, Dr. Warren Morgan and Katie Houston for joining us at the City Club today.

That website that I mentioned before is can vote for Cleveland schools dot com vote for Cleveland schools dot com.

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Please join me in welcoming students joining us from Collinwood High School and the Upward Bound program, as well as guests at the tables hosted by the Bond Accountability Commission.

Huntington Minds Matter.

Cleveland Say yes, Cleveland and the City of Cleveland.

Next Friday, September 20th, at the City Club.

Ohio Public Radio's Statehouse news bureau chief Karen Kasler will lead a conversation on the state of taxation in Ohio.

Notable trends in the nation and what it means for our communities and economy.

You can learn about this.

We can learn more about this forum and others at City Club dot org.

And that brings us to the end of today's forum.

Thank you once again to Dr. Morgan, Sara, Zachary and Katie, and to our members, friends of the City club.

I am Nigam on Twitter and this forum is now adjourned for information on upcoming speakers or for podcasts of the City Club.

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