RAB loves the latest Bill Todd stunt

I love watching the right jump off the small government train any time it suits them politically. This latest campaign stunt by Bighead Bill Todd shows that, at least momentarily, he is moving away from accusing Mayor Coleman of a felony, and into the realm of far fetched policy proposals. It isn't really clear what Todd hopes to accomplish by having the city take over Columbus Public Schools, especially since he says he probably wouldn't fire the superintendent or the school board.

There are a lot of problems with a plan like this. First and foremost, as the Dispatch notes in their coverage, is the fact that there is significant overlap between municipal Columbus, other cities and townships, and different school districts. A perfect example involves Todd himself. The part of Columbus he lives in falls in the Worthington City Schools. If they mayor takes over the schools, then people who live in such split neighborhoods will in effect be voting on Columbus schools when they vote for mayor, but still won't be contributing any taxes to the district or sending their kids there. This affects about 50,000 households in Columbus.

There are another 3,000 households that are in Columbus schools but aren't in Columbus. Under Todd's genius plan, they would continue to pay taxes to the school district, but would lose their right to vote on school district leadership because they can't vote in a mayoral race in Columbus.

Like everything Todd does, this is about headlines. Once you start digging, this "solution" falls apart. It would be pretty dumb to turn over control of the schools to a guy who has no education experience, sent his kids some place else, doesn't live in the school district, and can't even explain what he wants to change.