Race-Neutral on Paper. Lopsided in Practice.

Ronda Watson Barber, OhioMBE Publisher

Let’s stop pretending outcomes don’t matter.

The LEDE program at Columbus City Schools is described as race-neutral. Fine. But neutrality on paper does not excuse predictable, lopsided results—especially in a predominantly Black, urban school district funded largely by Black taxpayers.

Because here’s the reality:
White-owned businesses are overwhelmingly benefitting, while Black taxpayers are footing the bill.

Over the summer, CCS spent approximately $80 million through its Capital Improvements operations. Those dollars came from a voter-approved tax levy paid by Columbus residents. City residents said yes. City residents paid the tax. City residents now deserve accountability.

According to the district’s own data, only about $4 million of that $80 million went to Black-owned businesses. The remaining $76 million—roughly 95% of the summer spend—went elsewhere, overwhelmingly to non-Black, largely white-owned firms.

That is not a rounding error. That is an outcome.

When the district released its tracking report, it did not break down City of Columbus utilization. It reported only Franklin County business participation, lumping suburban firms in with city businesses and masking who actually benefitted from levy dollars. As a result, the public still cannot see how much money stayed in the city—or whether Columbus-based businesses had a real shot.

I asked for documentation showing outreach and good-faith contracting efforts. I asked who was contacted, how vendors were notified, what steps were taken to engage city businesses, and where that outreach was documented.

I received no good answers.

What I did receive was a word-salad memo from the COO—long on process language, short on proof. It did not address my questions, did not provide documentation, and did not explain why outcomes were so skewed.

That silence matters.

But it also raises a bigger question—one that can’t be brushed aside.

Why did the administration forward legislation to the Board of Education that was devoid of small, Black, and City of Columbus businesses?
If good-faith contracting is truly part of the district’s values, why wasn’t it reflected before contracts were presented for approval?

And just as important:

Why doesn’t the Board scrutinize the legislation placed in front of it?

Boards don’t exist to rubber-stamp recommendations. They exist to ask questions—hard ones. Who was included? Who was excluded? What outreach was done? What alternatives were considered? When legislation comes forward without evidence of local or small business participation, that should be a red flag, not a footnote.

Instead, contracts move forward. Money moves out. And accountability stops at the agenda item.

And here’s the part people don’t want to say out loud.

Businesses are eating at the CCS trough—benefitting from contracts funded by Black city taxpayers—while sending their own children to suburban or private schools. They profit from a district they do not rely on, in neighborhoods they do not live in, with students they do not serve.

That’s not race-neutral in impact. That’s extraction.

So here’s a question CCS should be prepared to answer—but hasn’t:

How many businesses receiving CCS contracts actually have children enrolled in Columbus City Schools?

That question goes to stewardship. Public dollars should circulate back into the community that funds and depends on the district—not subsidize lifestyles outside it.

Black taxpayers are paying into a system that:

• Spent $80 million in one summer
• Sent about $4 million to Black-owned businesses
• Failed to track City of Columbus utilization
• Failed to document good-faith outreach
• Advanced legislation lacking local and small business participation
• And approved it without meaningful board scrutiny

Call it whatever you want.
But don’t call it equitable.
And don’t call it good stewardship.

Race-neutral policy does not excuse racially and geographically skewed outcomes—especially when those outcomes are funded by a levy approved by the very community being left out.

Public money should not subsidize suburban lifestyles at the expense of city residents.

If CCS wants trust, it needs to stop hiding behind countywide numbers, start tracking city impact, and start answering questions—both at the administrative level and at the board table.

Because neutrality without accountability is just cover.

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Ronda Watson Barber publishes OhioMBE, the state’s largest Black-owned business newspaper. She advocates for small and Black-owned businesses.