Supt. Dr. Chapman Outlines Vision & Challenges at “Our Future, Our CCS” Public Workshops
Residents asked to help define the future of Columbus City Schools during first of three nights of public town hall workshops
October 27, 2025 – Columbus City Schools (CCS) Superintendent/CEO Dr. Angela Chapman opened the District’s Our Future, Our CCS workshop series Monday night at South High School, where she outlined her vision for the future of Columbus education.
“We are fighting for the future of our schools, our students, and our city, because I believe with my whole heart that every one of our CCS students have the power to be tomorrow’s leaders,” said Dr. Chapman. “These three public town hall meetings let us celebrate what we've accomplished together, to talk honestly about our challenges, and to reset our course for the future of Columbus City Schools.”
Dr. Chapman shared details of her vision to make sure the district is putting students first, despite budget reductions, to ensure every student can learn in a modern school environment while addressing the pressing need for facility and transportation realignment.
The Superintendent was joined by members of the Columbus Board of Education, CCS’ top administration leaders, parents, students, and community members.
Dr. Chapman said the District is entering a critical period of transformation, “We’ve got to work together believing in what's possible. That’s how the story of Columbus City Schools was and will be written by our families, teachers, alumni, and especially our students.”
Dr. Chapman highlighted recent CCS achievements:
- 40 CCS schools earned three stars or higher on Ohio’s most recent report card
- 95% graduation rate for Career-Technical Education (CTE) students
- 22-point drop in chronic absenteeism over the past 5 years
- College enrollment doubled through the Columbus Promise program
Dr. Chapman also addressed the District’s financial challenges, citing a nearly $100 million budget deficit and declining state funding, which has fallen from 35% to 15% of the overall CCS general fund budget since 2022.
“While the state continues to push more of the cost of public education onto local families, we must make $50 million in tough choices for 2026-2027 to reset our budgets, to realign our buildings, and to reboot our transportation systems,” Dr. Chapman said. “That is the only way we can keep investing in student success and eventually free up funding to build new neighborhood schools with the classes and services students want and deserve. Too many aging buildings are eating up too much money, too many students are traveling too far to get the program they want, and too many small facilities simply can’t offer the programs to compete.”
Following the presentation, the public attendees met with CCS leaders in workshop sessions about transportation, facilities and academics to review data for each area in more detail and share their priorities and ideas for the budget.
Dr. Chapman concluded, “We are listening to residents, voters, teachers, parents and students, because the plans we will be presenting over the next few weeks are critical to starting CCS down the path to compete in academics and in our facilities with the region and state.”
There are two more Our Future, Our CCS Workshop series events scheduled:
- Tues. Oct. 28 - 6 p.m. at West High School (179 S Powell Ave., Columbus, OH 43204)
- Wed. Oct. 29 - 6 p.m. at Mifflin High School (3245 Oak Spring St., Columbus, OH 43219)
The Columbus community can view town hall materials and share feedback at: www.ccsoh.us/OurFutureOurCCS
Information on CCS educational goals and record available here: Columbus City Schools Goals Update
Take the community survey: https://tinyurl.com/CCSOurFuture
