By Fritz Edelstein
December 13, 2004

The Ohio Mayors' Education Roundtable met in Akron for a second time in six months December 8 to discuss their mayoral leadership and involvement in Ohio education at the local and state level. Attending this meeting were Conference President Akron Mayor Donald L. Plusquellic, Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell, Canton Mayor Janet Weir Creighton, Toledo Mayor Jack Ford, and Cincinnati Mayor Charles Luken. Also, participating were Providence (RI) Mayor David Cicilline, Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction Susan Zelman, and Vanderbilt University Professor Ken Wong.

Plusquellic kicked off the meeting by talking about how education is the most important thing that society does for its future. He stated, "there is no better issue for public officials to be involved, particularly in cities where there are difficulties. I know there is no simple answer to public education, no instant solution, but if we are to make a difference part of the solution is making a commitment to a continuing conversation about public education in our cities. Today's conversation and those in the future need to address the strategies we need to develop as a group on education to decide where we want to go in the future."

The two invited presenters Wong and Cicilline addressed the important role mayors play in education and revitalizing the community by focusing on linking education to neighborhood development. Wong gave numerous reasons for why mayors need to care about public schools and be engaged. These include:

• schools matter to the urban economy and its labor market;
• the quality of the schools' can affect a city's bond rating;
• good schools are tied to sound housing values; and
• mayors are best in articulating constituent concerns.

From his research, he has found that schools and churches are often the only remaining stable institutions in a city and neighborhoods — they are community anchors.

Cicilline described the various initiatives and efforts he had put in place as mayor of Providence that have linked education to individual neighborhoods, and made education a city-wide issue and concern. One of the first things he did as mayor was to hold a Public Forum on Education that enabled individual citizens to share their perceptions and concerns about schools. This was combined with weekly school visits and the establishment of the "Revised Neighborhood Investment Project." The latter empowers the 25 natural neighborhoods of the city to develop their own redevelopment plan with the school as a central part of it. This includes the use of the school for both "in and out of school time," and use by members of the community. Schools become a hub for the neighborhood. His goal is to change the thinking of the city that a school is for all day and for all the year so that the community feels responsible for the kids in the hub. Cicilline said, "We, as mayors, need to lead the charge for public education. There are great things happening in our schools and we have a responsibility to build support for public education."

ity feels responsible for the kids in the hub. Cicilline said, "We, as mayors, need to lead the charge for public education. There are great things happening in our schools and we have a responsibility to build support for public education."

A part of the meeting was an open discussion between the mayors about what should be the next steps for the Roundtable. The consensus was that they need to focus on one or two issues, expand the stakeholders participating in the conversation, and invite additional Ohio mayors to the next meeting. Other stakeholders to be invited during the next set of meetings may include superintendents from the cities of participating mayors, and business leaders.

Consensus among the mayors was they need to work with others both involved in and responsible for education in the state to make the policy, program and practice changes necessary to improve education in Ohio. Also, the mayors committed to work with Susan Zelman, Ohio's Superintendent of Public Instruction and asked her to send them critical information and data updates on education performance, statistics and other relevant information.

The Roundtable has been sponsored this year by the following Ohio based foundations KnowledgeWorks Foundation, George Gund Foundation, Cleveland Foundation, and the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation. These meetings will continue for the next several years as part of a larger grant focused on urban leadership development recently made to the Ohio State Department of Education by the Wallace Foundation. The Roundtable will continue to be the responsibility of the Conference of Mayors as a sub-grantee of the Wallace grant and the Conference will be a grant partner with the Ohio State Department of Education.