Measuring School Costs & Performance
Cuyahoga County has 31 Public School Districts
How AI Summarizes My Views on Schools
Jim Trutko’s proposals for local schools are primarily focused on transparency, performance tracking, and addressing the gap between high educational spending and low proficiency results.
1. Transparency & Performance Tracking
Trutko advocates for a "Scoreboard" approach to help citizens evaluate how well their tax dollars are being used.
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Proficiency Analysis: He highlights that in the 2023-24 school year, only 56% of students in the county’s 31 public districts were estimated to be proficient.
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District Accountability: He points out that 12 of the 31 districts averaged below 60 on proficiency tests, arguing that "normal" performance is insufficient for the county’s economic growth.
2. Fiscal Evaluation of Education
Trutko emphasizes the high cost of the current system compared to its results:
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Teacher Salaries: He notes that the median salary for teachers in Cuyahoga County ($76,176 in 2019) is significantly higher than the state median ($58,465), yet student outcomes in many districts remain "not encouraging."
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Evaluation Reform: He critiques the current evaluation system, noting that out of over 9,000 teachers, only 17 were evaluated as "ineffective" despite the poor overall test results.
3. Economic Alignment
His overarching goal is to ensure that the public school system produces a well-trained workforce. He believes that the current lack of proficiency among students "handicaps Cuyahoga County’s economic growth" and makes the region less competitive for businesses.
Cuyahoga Co. Public School Proficiency Test Results
Overall Proficiency Results for 2023-24 School Year Were Not Encouraging
The 2023-24 proficiency test results for the 31 public school districts in Cuyahoga County didn't support community aspirations for a well-trained workforce.
​About 56% of the county's 128,000 public school students in 3rd grade to high school were estimated to be proficient while 44% scored below 60. Twelve of the county's 31 districts averaged below 60 on the tests. ​
For more information, read the PDF. It summarizes results for 31 districts and 309 school buildings.
A Return to "Normal" Public Schools Is Not Enough
(Crain's Cleveland Business, March 7, 2022)
The 2020-21 school year was dismal for public education in Cuyahoga County as schools were buffeted by the COVID pandemic and social and political currents.
Most parents and the public hoped that schools would return to "normal" for the county's 130,000 public school students this year, but even if COVID disruptions fade in spring, the public schools' "normal" performance fails to prepare many students for the future and handicaps Cuyahoga County's economic growth.
Cuyahoga SD Teachers' Salaries Vs Ohio Medians
The ODE provides data on teachers' salaries, backgrounds and evaluations over 600 public school districts.
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In 2019, the median salaries for the 31 Cuyahoga County public school districts was $76,176, compared to $58,465 for other state districts. Other data was similar but more Cuyahoga teachers had MA degrees than in other Ohio districts.
Very few teachers were evaluated as ineffective. Out of 9,321 teachers employed in Cuyahoga school district in 2019, 17 were evaluated as ineffective.​
