By Fritz Edelstein
June 7, 2004

On the heels of the 50th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, the U.S. Conference of Mayors organized the first meeting of the Ohio mayors' Education Roundtable in Columbus on June 3. The theme for this series of Education Roundtables is "Strong Schools Make Strong Cities." As part of the Conference's mayors' Initiative for Leadership in Education (MILE), the Roundtable session provided mayors from Ohio's largest cities an opportunity to focus on one of the most critical issues facing urban America, and expand and improve mayoral leadership and involvement in education both in their respective cities as well as the state of Ohio.

Conference Vice President Akron Mayor Donald L. Plusquellic chaired the Roundtable and Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman hosted the meeting. Two other mayors attended the meeting were Dayton Mayor Rhine L. McLin and Toledo Mayor Jack Ford. There were three invited guests who also participated in the discussion. They were Michael Casserly, Executive Director of the Council of Great City Schools; Susan Bodary, the Ohio Governor's Executive Assistant for Education; and Susan Zelman, Ohio's Superintendent of Public Instruction. The mayors of Cleveland, Cincinnati, Canton and Youngstown were unable to attend for various reasons. All eight mayors have committed to participate in Roundtable meetings that will be held at least twice a year.

As he opened the meeting, Plusquellic stated, "This group has the potential to be a significant force at both the state and local levels. We have a unique opportunity to break new ground by creating a model that can be applied in other states and cities."

The purpose of the Education Roundtable is provide an opportunity to large city mayors in Ohio to meet and discuss education issues, strategies, best practices, lessons learned and the mayoral role in education. The catalyst for creating the Roundtable was the significant interest each of the eight mayors has shown in education as they have become more engaged and involved in their cities.

The Roundtable has been made possible through the generous support of several Ohio foundations. These are the KnowledgeWorks Foundation, The George Gund Foundation, The Cleveland Foundation, Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, and the Columbus Foundation. Representatives of each foundation worked closely with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and a staff representative of each mayor to help design the meeting. A network of Ohio mayors' education advisors has been formed for this project. Such a network will assist the Conference of Mayors staff in working on issues and planning future Roundtable activities. This is the first known state network of this kind.

Coleman said, "We have a responsibility, as mayors, parents, community leaders to do our best for our kids. Education is the most important tool we have to ensure the future of our children and our cities, and that makes education everybody's business."

This is the first time that the Ohio large city mayors have met solely on the issue of education. Each mayor expressed their deep interest in education and the importance of a quality education to the economic revitalization, quality of life, business development and vitality to their city. All the mayors felt education was one, if not the, critical building blocks for any city. And each mayor has been taking different approaches and types of involvement in their communities, but all are playing some role to improve education and make it a higher priority in their city.

Plusquellic stated during the discussion the "problem schools are problems of society, and education is one of those challenges the mayors who are leaders in their community need to address." This statement set the stage for a discussion on issues, areas of involvement, entry points and barriers to mayoral involvement, success stories and ideas for next steps for the group.

The mayors addressed a broad range of issues including after school, school construction, graduation and drop-out rates, the ability of schools to change especially in high schools, workforce development and school-to-career, accountability, testing, teacher recruitment, special programs, and public or community engagement. The financing of education, most especially the inequities that currently exist in Ohio with the state funding distributions was of particular interest and concern to the mayors. And Ohio is not alone with this problem of equity and adequacy of funding.

Clearly, the mayors' recognized that if schools lost student interest in learning that the interest of many inner city students in continuing school was in peril. They expressed their concern for how significant a problem this is for urban mayors and the schools. There were no hard solutions, but they decided this must be a focus area of the group to determine best practices and new interventions.

This group, like other mayors, realizes that there needs to be a partnership between their office and the school system. How does a mayor create the partnership was a focus of discussion and interest because it also begins to define the mayor's role in education and in the community. Across the board, the participants agreed that the mayor was the key individual in the city that can bring everyone together, to convene meetings that discuss citywide issues and concerns. And the mayor should use the bully pulpit when necessary to raise the level of awareness about issues, and find ways and entry points to address these issues.

The Roundtable concluded with a discussion of next steps for the mayors and what other key stakeholders might be invited to participate in future discussion as well as key experts to discuss programs that work in areas identified by the mayors. The mayors agreed to hold the next Ohio mayors' Education Roundtable in December in Toledo.

Surely there will be discussions amongst the mayors between June and December including at the Conference's annual meeting at the end of June in Boston.

With the success of this meeting and interest shown by other mayors in other states, the Conference will begin a process to identify mayors in other states that wish to create a mayors' education roundtable and find appropriate support for each state that will establish a roundtable. Prior to this meeting, there were already several inquiries by some mayors to try to form a similar Roundtable in their state.