Columbus City Schools committee launches districtwide education visioning to guide facilities spending

Mifflin High School — The Columbus City Schools Academic Facility Alignment Committee met March 11 to begin developing districtwide educational specifications that officials say will guide future facility investments and how the district spends permanent-improvement funds.

The committee, chaired by Adair, opened the meeting by stressing that the process is community-driven and preliminary: “Nothing has been decided yet. Nothing has been written in stone,” Adair said, adding the work will define the baseline learning experience every student should encounter across grade bands.

Why it matters: district leaders said the specifications will link academic priorities to building design, staffing and budgets so that future construction or renovations support program goals. “This will be the blueprint for how we invest our current permanent improvement funds,” Superintendent Dr. Chapman told the committee, framing the exercise as the missing piece in long-term planning.

What was presented: Valerie Mononttoya, deputy chief of planning at the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, told the committee that educational visioning should precede design. “Education first: what do you want to do and how do you want to deliver it,” she said, urging districts to define program needs before architects produce plans.

Treasurer Cook described the complementary budget lens. “It’s all about resource allocation and looking at what we’re doing effectively to educate our students,” he said, summarizing the committee’s planned use of an academic return-on-investment (ARI) framework to evaluate program costs and outcomes.

Inventory and current programs: District staff gave a high-level inventory of programs the committee will catalog more fully. Key figures presented by staff during the meeting included: about 10,300 English learners districtwide; roughly 1,300 general-education pre-K seats and about 900 pre-K special-education seats; approximately 7,765 students receiving special-education services (about 18% of enrollment); more than 4,000 identified gifted students; and roughly 2,300 scholar-athletes participating in middle- and high-school athletics. Staff said career and technical education participation has grown substantially in recent years and reported more than 11,000 students now accessing CTE-related programs across the district.

Schedules and space implications: Literacy and daily instructional minutes were highlighted as planning inputs. Staff said a typical elementary day measures about 390 minutes (9 a.m.–3:30 p.m.), while middle and high school days total about 420 minutes. Directors emphasized that program delivery (for example, pull-out intervention rooms, career pathways, clinics or workforce labs) requires specific space configurations that the educational specifications will define.

Special education and supports: The special-education program was detailed as a continuum — resource rooms, social-emotional and behavior centers, specialized learning centers and related services (occupational/physical therapy, speech, nursing, school psychology). District staff reported 7,765 students currently receive services and noted that many buildings are old and not fully ADA-accessible, which complicates delivering all services on-site.

Questions and next steps: Committee members asked for an up-to-date, public program inventory; staff committed to providing an updated inventory and publishing materials in BoardDocs ahead of the next meeting. The committee also discussed outreach: staff plan community conversations, surveys and school visits and asked members to act as ambassadors for outreach in their neighborhoods. The next committee meeting was set for April 15.

Formal actions: The committee accepted the meeting agenda by unanimous consent and subsequently reconfirmed its charter by roll-call vote (yes: Dejon Cox; Liz Kaslin Turner; Miss Brell; Miss Brit; Dr. Jermaine Kennedy; Mr. Dair). The charter reapproval passed.

What the committee will produce: Staff said the year’s deliverables include (1) a comprehensive program inventory and analysis of what the district offers and lacks; (2) community feedback on what families want; (3) an assessment of costs and barriers to providing prioritized programming; and (4) educational specifications that translate the community vision into spatial and programmatic requirements for new or renovated facilities. Officials emphasized the process will be iterative and community-driven.

Select quotes from the meeting:

• Chair Adair: “Nothing has been decided yet. Nothing has been written in stone.”

• Valerie Mononttoya, OFCC deputy chief of planning: “Education first: what do you want to do and how do you want to deliver it.”

• Dr. Chapman, superintendent: “This will be the blueprint for how we invest our current permanent improvement funds.”

• Treasurer Cook: “It’s all about resource allocation and looking at what we’re doing effectively to educate our students.”

• Dr. Mickey Nelson (special education): “Our current enrollment as of this morning ... is 7,765 students with disabilities, which represents about 18% of our district population.”

The committee closed by asking members to return with questions, help recruit community participants and review the forthcoming program inventory. Staff said they will schedule deeper dives on specific programs (special education, English learners, career-connected learning) in future meetings and will publish materials and calendars on BoardDocs.