By Ronda Watson Barber
OhioMBE Publisher
Once again, Columbus City Schools is leaning on outside consultants to help its highly paid staff do the jobs they were hired—and generously compensated—to perform. Taxpayers should be asking: Why are we paying twice for the same work?
The latest move? The elected board passed legislation to provide guidance to the Director of Capital Improvements. Let that sink in. A senior-level administrator, presumably hired for their expertise, now needs additional oversight written into board policy.
Now, the district is soliciting proposals for an Outreach Consultant—a position that raises even more red flags. The RFP wasn’t quietly issued—it was blasted twice to the entire LEDE vendor base, without blind copying recipients. The first email even listed the wrong job title: “Athletic Trainer” instead of “Outreach Consultant.”
Even more frustrating: accessing the actual RFP is an unnecessarily complicated process. Vendors must visit Public Purchase, register for an account, and then associate their profile with Columbus City Schools. If a business isn’t already registered, it must complete the entire vendor registration process just to view the opportunity.
Why not simply post contracting opportunities with direct links on the district’s website? Why is CCS outsourcing transparency? Why is a third-party platform being used to share public opportunities funded by public dollars?
The RFP for the Outreach Consultant has a not-to-exceed value of $25,000. That’s $25,000 of taxpayer money to help an employee already being paid to perform outreach. And it’s just the latest example. We’ve already identified over $775,000 in consulting fees spent by the district—including $500,000 for a building assessment and $250,000 for strategic communications services. Those funds should be redirected to classrooms, not to assist highly paid administrators. Why is the elected board approving these expenditures?
Imagine what that money could do if reinvested in students. How many reading assistants, math tutors, or intervention specialists could have been hired to help children directly?
Let’s not forget—there’s already an Outreach Coordinator on payroll. According to the district’s own internal audit, the Outreach Coordinator is responsible for:
- Hosting outreach events
- Attending and presenting at vendor fairs
- Building relationships with small, minority- and women-owned businesses
- Promoting procurement opportunities to diverse vendors
- Managing bid notifications
- Supporting internal departments in reaching equity goals
Since taking office in January 2025, there’s little to no evidence that these responsibilities are being met or that any measurable outcomes have been achieved. Instead of holding the Outreach Coordinator accountable, the district is looking to hire someone else to do the work he was hired—and paid—to do.
And this isn’t a new pattern. When the former Chief Operating Officer—who remains on staff despite a poor track record managing operations—was clearly in over his head, the district brought in a highly paid administrator to guide him. That’s right: CCS brought in a second leader just to help the first one do his job. She was on staff for several years and received a full salary and benefits package—another costly workaround for failed leadership.
It appears CCS’ work product is a revolving door of highly paid, often incompetent executives and administrators—with consultants brought in to clean up the mess rather than fix the system.
Columbus City Schools is Ohio’s largest educator of Black children. Its continued mismanagement, lack of transparency, and refusal to hold staff accountable erodes community trust. While students struggle and classrooms are under-resourced, the district keeps writing checks to cover incompetence.
Taxpayers deserve better. Our children deserve better. And the public deserves a clear, honest accounting of where their money is going—and why.
just my thoughts…rwb
🔗 Read more columns at OhioMBE.com
Advocating for Black-owned businesses and government accountability
