Why I'm voting for the Cleveland school levy

A school levy is never just about the kids. It's also about the adults in charge. And the adults behind Issue 107, Cleveland's school levy, have done just about everything we could reasonably ask of them.

I live in Cleveland, and on Nov. 6, I'm voting for the levy. I explain why in "Stress Test," my commentary in the November issue of Cleveland Magazine.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and schools CEO Eric Gordon (pictured) have assembled a coalition of business, nonprofit and labor leaders around an unprecedented set of reforms. Already, the district's new and innovative schools are already producing better results than the traditional schools around them, proving that a better education is possible.

The district has a plan to open more innovative schools, close and replace failing schools, and assemble and reward teaching staffs based on a new evaluation system. In a feat of persuasion and pressure, Jackson got both the state legislature and the teacher's union to sign off on the plan.

Now, it's the taxpayers' turn to join the effort -- or the reforms will become merely a way to manage layoffs and decline.

If you live in the city, or you're curious about Cleveland's school reforms and the levy effort, please read my piece here.

Jackson gets school reforms; can he pass a levy?

So far, in his quest to turn around the Cleveland schools, Frank Jackson has pulled off two huge political feats.

The mayor got the teacher’s union to support his reform plan this spring, and on Wednesday his plan made it through the state legislature. A lot of people are in the mood to congratulate him.

But his third political challenge lies ahead, and it's the toughest of all. This fall, he’ll try to convince city voters to approve a new levy to shore up the district’s dwindling finances.

Jackson has shown great political skills this year, steering his plan past obstacles on the left and the right. He got tough with the teacher’s union, warning them they could either negotiate or see reforms pass without their input. That’s how he got the historic agreement to lay off teachers based on performance, not seniority, starting in summer 2013.

Then Jackson negotiated with Republican lawmakers over his plan to hold charter schools accountable. The mayor had to compromise, since the legislature, awash in donations from charter-school operators, was not going to give him a veto over new independent schools coming to town. But the bill creates additional oversight for charters operating in the city, which is important, since the state’s oversight is so weak.

Now Cleveland taxpayers will be asked to sacrifice. Jackson’s next step is to go for a new school levy this November. He and school officials haven’t said how much money they’ll ask for, but it’ll probably be a lot. The district faces yet another deficit this year. There’s even talk about asking for two levies, one for repairing schools, one for operating them day-to-day.

The district’s finances are being squeezed from all sides. Cleveland’s population keeps declining. Students who leave the district for charter schools take state money with them. The state is eliminating a business tax that used to be a source of school revenue. The cries to reform Ohio’s unconstitutional school-funding method go unheeded. Clevelanders who argue the district needs extra financial help run into arguments that Cleveland already gets more than its share.

Clevelanders haven’t approved a school levy since 2001, the year the East High gym’s roof collapsed and the need to replace and renovate schools became self-evident. The city hasn’t passed a levy for regular operations since 1996. Voters rejected a 2005 attempt by a two-to-one margin.

Passing a levy will be harder than ever. Cleveland is still very poor, and residents are still suffering from the downturn. Many Clevelanders don’t have a connection to the schools anymore. Even many public-school parents may be reluctant to give more money to schools that fail so many kids.

That’s why Jackson insisted he needed the school reforms in hand before he asked for more tax money. He felt he had to show voters a plan for improving them. Soon, the reforms will give the district broader powers to take strong action with failing schools. If the district keeps shrinking, it’ll shed the poorest-performing teachers, rather than most of its young talent.

Jackson’s reforms also include sharing levy money with the highest-performing charter schools. The high-minded idea is to embrace school choice, partner with successful charters and share strategies with them. But practically, it should help convince charter-school parents to support the levy.

Can Jackson pull it off? He will need all the help he can get. That means a lot of levy-campaign contributions from the corporate and foundation leaders who helped create the reform plan. It means an engaged, organized union ready to overcome its mixed feelings about the coming changes. It means getting the public, especially parents, to put faith in reforms that won’t be implemented until 2013.

Above all, it means the mayor will have to appeal for continued trust from the voters who reelected him by more than 2-to-1 in 2009.

Passing a school levy will make dealing with the teacher’s union and the Republican legislature look easy. So it’s way too early to congratulate Jackson. He’ll be tested like never before this fall.

Jackson, selling school plan, says he'll run for 3rd term

Check out Dan Moulthrop's blog post at the Civic Commons. Moulthrop, the Commons curator, former WCPN host, and sometime Cleveland Magazine commentator, interviewed Frank Jackson about school reform on Friday and drew out the newly aggressive mayor on why he's being so aggressive. He also got Jackson to acknowledge something I haven't seen him confirm before -- he's running for a third term as mayor in 2013.

A few weeks ago, Moulthrop was mad at the mayor for springing his school reform package on the city instead of putting it together after community forums, dialogue, etc. Moulthrop is "curator of the conversation" at the Civic Commons, a civic-journalism website that organizes public forums, so favoring consensus over conflict is practically part of the job description.

But, challenged on the collaboration question, Jackson expressed his tough view of what it takes to create change. "I'm trying to get something done," Jackson replied. "I'm not trying to be politically correct or soothe anyone's feathers. That's how we got in the predicament we're in now."

I hear a lot between the lines of Jackson's quote. I think he means that trying to please everyone often creates inertia that defeats reforms, because reform always threatens someone's interests. (For instance, we wouldn't have the new Cuyahoga County government we have now, with an executive and council, if the charter had been written to please the local Democratic Party.)

I also think the mayor knows he got more concessions out of the teacher's union by putting his plan before the legislature than if he'd given the union a veto over his ideas and negotiated on its timeline. (I think union president David Quolke knows that too.)

Moulthrop, a former teacher who supports reforms in how teachers are paid and evaluated, sounds mostly persuaded. He isn't endorsing Jackson's plan, but he says all Greater Clevelanders should have an opinion about it, because we all have a stake in how the reforms turn out. He says the Cleveland reforms could influence other struggling urban school districts across the country.

Finally, he notes a step in Jackson's evolution: "He is enjoying the opportunity to try to fix a Big Problem." Seeing the fix through, he reports, is why Jackson's running for re-election next year.

Roldo vs. Naymik on Mayor Jackson

Reading Roldo Bartimole's column has gotten really fun lately. The veteran alternative journalist is back in Cool Cleveland after a sporadic semi-retirement. He's chasing Mayor Frank Jackson with the same fiery tenacity that once inspired George Forbes to physically throw him out of a meeting.

"Is it time for Mayor Frank Jackson to go?" he asked on March 14. Cleveland is suffering from a spiritual depression, Roldo raged. Jackson, he wrote, has botched the LED lighting and trash-to-gas plant deals, hiked trash fees, thumbed his nose at Cleveland teachers, and cut a sweetheart deal with the Browns (this is Roldo talking, so you knew that'd be in there).

Roldo even called out the city's ambitious politicians to run for mayor in 2013:

C’mon Jeff Johnson. C’mon Joe Cimperman. Zach Reed. Nina Turner. You too Brian Cummins. Chris Ronayne. You all know you want it. C’mon Matt Zone. You too Tony Brancantelli. Ray Pianka. Don’t any of you sell yourselves short.

And, by the way folks, Dennis now is available. Whoa!

Since then, Roldo has accused Jackson of being Mike White Lite, cozying up to the Greater Cleveland Partnership, getting too tough on teachers, but not getting tough enough on firefighters. City Hall sources are complaining to him about the sorry state of Cleveland's fire, water and building departments.

It's exciting reading, some of Roldo's best work in a while. And it fits a vibe I'm getting from the local press corps, that with Jimmy Dimora in prison, it's time to swing more of our attention from the county administration building back to City Hall.

But while Roldo provokes Jackson fans, Mark Naymik is probing Jackson's character. The Plain Dealer columnist's March 22 piece is full of insights into the mayor's values and priorities. Some of them even read like responses to Roldo's anger:

Jackson's been a reluctant partner to the business community on many development issues over the years. His partnership with it today is one of convenience. He and the business community both want change within the schools ...

Jackson doesn't need the parties, the business community, unions or any other special-interest group to win re-election. ... His street credibility remains enormous ... Don't believe me? Name someone who is seriously considering running against him.

The mayor "lives by a code," Naymik notes. "It boils down to staying true to your word." This is an important insight, one I noticed when I profiled Jackson just as he took over as mayor. It not only means he'll stick to his promise to improve the schools. It also means he judges people by deeds, not words.

The mayor is judging the teacher's union not by their declarations that they want reform, but their go-slow approach in contract negotiations toward issues such as merit pay. He doesn't trust state Republicans either, but he knows they can give him more leverage to change the schools.

Roldo and Naymik agree on one question: Why isn't Jackson getting as tough with City Hall's most troubled departments as he's getting with the schools? It's a great question to judge the mayor by in the next year or two. And it's a sharper way to talk about him than the usual clichéd thinking about mayors.

Quick Fixer: my profile of Peter Raskind, interim schools CEO

Peter Raskind will only be CEO of the Cleveland schools until summer, but he wants to solve two years of budget troubles in the next three months.

Last night, Raskind proposed closing seven schools and laying off 650 teachers, part of his plan to manage the shrinking district. Facing a $47 million deficit, he wants to cut $74 million. He knows that a worse deficit is projected for 2012, and he wants to deal with it before he leaves.

Raskind, the last CEO of National City, says he learned lessons during the Cleveland bank’s decline that motivate him to bold action now. “It’s better to get out ahead of issues and confront them than hope they go away,” he told me recently. “Being proactive beats being defensive, even when it's painful.”

My profile of Raskind, “Quick Fixer,” appears in the April issue of Cleveland Magazine and is online now. The April issue is available in bookstores this week and will be on other newsstands by early April.

Most Clevelanders know Raskind as the CEO who took charge of National City just as its aggressive push to grow from hometown commercial bank to a leading national mortgage lender began to bear rotting fruit. Now Raskind has a chance to be known in Cleveland for something other than bank failure. He's taken on an unlikely second career as an interim CEO for troubled government agencies.

Last year, he stabilized the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority and killed its grandiose $600 million relocation plan with a single, swift stroke. Now, after former schools CEO Eugene Sanders’ abrupt departure for Maui, Mayor Frank Jackson has asked Raskind to step in, tackle the deficit and advance the unfinished "transformation plan" to reform the schools.

The peculiar job of an interim CEO gives Raskind unusual freedom to act, without a career-minded leader’s caution. Sanders, faced with a similar deficit last year, closed 13 schools and balanced the budget, but didn’t push hard enough to prevent this year’s sequel.

Still, Raskind’s decisions are sure to provoke controversy. School closings change a neighborhood, and Raskind and the school board will likely hear from upset parents at community forums (pdf) next Tuesday and Wednesday. (Is Raskind “on the right track, or is there another way?” asks Dan Moulthrop on the Civic Commons web site.)

Raskind is also thinking about selling the district’s headquarters, the 1931 board of education building on East Sixth Street. Roldo Bartimole — blogging again after a long break — is upset, pointing out that selling the building would mess with Daniel Burnham’s 1903 Group Plan for the Malls and that public outcry nixed a plan to sell the building in the 1980s. It’s one example of the critical moment the school district faces and Raskind’s brief but key role in its future.

You can read my Raskind profile by clicking here. If you’d like to link to it, you can use this shortcut: tinyurl.com/CM-Raskind.

Patmon gets newspaper endorsement -- from Renner's Independent

"Bill Patmon Must Win!" shouts the cover of The Independent, the new alternative newspaper from ex-Scene writer James Renner. I'm sure the mayoral challenger would rather have gotten endorsed by the Plain Dealer or Crain's or the Call & Post -- Renner's endorsement editorial, titled "How you should vote if you're not a total d-bag," is unlikely to pop up on billpatmonformayor.com. {Update, 10/29: Wrong!}

Still, it must have cheered Patmon up to travel the city this week and see his proud, slightly smiling face next to the cover type, "Why this man should be Cleveland's next mayor." (The October issue, available at several bars and bookstores, is the third edition of the alternative monthly, which includes lots of cheeky political coverage and the whodunit crime investigations Renner's best known for.)

Jackson, Renner argues, has "fumbled away any real involvement in the Med Mart deal, a development opportunity the city should have had a say in." Patmon, he says, "has a plan, in fact several, for Cleveland ... real, doable improvements." The challenger outlines a few in an interview with the paper: using Cleveland Public Power to create green jobs, creating an immigrant welcome center, and breaking the school system into five sub-districts.

Two weeks before Election Day, Patmon is tearing into Jackson on the Cleveland schools, calling his education record "a dismal failure." Patmon has an op-ed in Sunday's Plain Dealer that notes the city's schools have a much lower graduation rate than any other big Ohio school district. Cleveland's district has more administrators and pays its top administrators more than the Columbus school district, which has more students enrolled, he adds.

I'd link to Patmon's op-ed, but it hasn't been posted on cleveland.com. His op-ed from last weekend, criticizing the plan to move the port, is online, along with the mayor's pro-port op-ed.