Secession from the District: The Ballantrae Question

I've been asked twice this week about the conversation going on in Ballantrae in regard to leaving the Hilliard School District, supposedly to become part of Dublin City Schools.

Much of what I've heard seems to based on information I believe to be incorrect. Nor am I clear what the motivations are for pursuing this action, although my experience is that they are rarely matters of abstract philosophy. In other words, I suspect that there are a few folks who feel they have much to gain for personal reasons they have not fully disclosed, and are attempting to invoke other arguments to futher their private goals - even when those arguments have no merit.

For example, the main assertion seems to be that because of the annexation of a large tract of land roughly bounded by Cosgray, Hayden Run and Avery Rds into the City of Columbus, and the simultaneous transfer of that same land into Columbus City Schools, a situation has been created that somehow puts Ballantrae into jeopardy of being 'taken over' by Columbus City School as well.

This is hogwash.

The reason given for this supposed exposure is, as I understand it, that it is against Ohio law for school districts to have 'islands' (non-contiguous) parcels of land included their territories. Indeed ORC 3311.06 states precisely that, but with some exceptions. Those exceptions were written into the law specifically to deal with a unique situation that exists in Franklin County - the so-called "Win-Win Agreement."

A review of history is required.

Many decades ago, the City of Columbus was given exclusive control of the regional water/sewer system. In that role, the City of Columbus has negotiated water/sewer service agreements with the surrounding incorporated municipalities. Those agreements include clear descriptions of the extent to which a suburb can annex land and be allowed to extend water/sewer service. It also prohibits the extension of the water/sewer service into unincorporated parcels. In other words, a developer is required to have his land annexed into whichever city has the rights to extend the water/sewer system to that particular parcel. This will come back into play later in the story.

Columbus was very shrewd in the way it drew up this contract, for it preserves "growth corridors" between each suburb that allow the City of Columbus to expand to areas beyond the suburbs. For example, the western limit of the expansion area defined for the City of Hilliard is along a line which runs roughly due north from Bradley High School. Therefore, any land west of this line can be annexed only into the City of Columbus.

Now let's talk about the "Win-Win Agreement."  Its history goes like this:

• In 1977, in the case of Penick v. Columbus Board of Education, the Federal Court ruled that busing be implemented in Columbus City Schools in order to racially integrate the schools. That led to a wave of "White Flight" to the suburbs.
• This "White Flight" created a demand for suburban housing that could be satisfied only by the construction of thousands upon thousands of new homes. It launched a boom for developers and home builders unlike any ever before seen in our region.
• Because all these new developments would have to be served by the regional water/sewer system, which is controlled by the City of Columbus, the fastest and most economical way to extend the water/sewer service system was to find pockets of land at the frontier of the existing water/sewer line network, but within suburban school district boundaries. In our community, among the first of these developments were The Glen and Golfview Woods. Both were outside the expansion zone assigned to the City of Hilliard, but were adjacent to the City of Columbus, and so were annexed by the developers into the City of Columbus, while remaining in the Hilliard School District.
• The Columbus School Board decided that the "White Flight" was a bad thing for Columbus City Schools, and it sought to have the State Board of Education - the state agency which sets school district boundaries - declare that municipal and school district boundaries should be made the same. The Columbus School Board had compelling arguments: a) the whole reason for the Penick ruling - desegregation - was being circumvented; and, b) Columbus school buildings were emptying out (e.g. Central High School, which is now COSI), while the suburbs were building schools like crazy, costing the taxpayers a ton of money.
• A time of great angst followed. Residents of neighborhoods like Golfview Woods (where my wife and I lived at the time) feared that they would be reassigned to Columbus Schools and their kids bused to schools far away because of the desegregation ruling. The demand for suburban housing dropped dramatically as potential homebuyers stood on the sidelines waiting to see how this situation would work out. This greatly concerned the developers, who have always carried a great deal of political weight in our region.

After a period of fighting spanning several years in both the courts and the Statehouse, the Win-Win Agreement was developed. Its key points are these:

• Any developed land in the City of Columbus but a suburban school district would be allowed to remain in the suburban school district as long as the suburban school district continues to make annual 'revenue sharing' payments to Columbus City Schools. I prefer to call these ransom payments, and ours is now $1 million/yr.
• Any undeveloped land annexed into a suburb under the terms of the water/services agreement would remain in the school district in which it was part prior to the annexation. This is the one that applies to Ballantrae.
• Any undeveloped land which is thereafter annexed into the City of Columbus is automatically shifted to Columbus City Schools.  This is the clause which causes all those islands in the Columbus School District to develop, such as the big Dominion development along Hayden Run Rd between Cosgray and Avery.

Because of the existence of the Win-Win Agreement, certain exceptions were written into ORC 3311.06, the law governing the transfer of school district territory:

(C)(2) When the territory so annexed to a city or village comprises part but not all of the territory of a school district, the said territory becomes part of the city school district or the school district of which the village is a part only upon approval by the state board of education, unless the district in which the territory is located is a party to an annexation agreement with the city school district.

The Win-Win Agreement is an example (perhaps the only example) of such an annexation agreement. ORC 3311.06 goes on to say:

(F) An urban school district may enter into a comprehensive agreement with one or more school districts under which transfers of territory annexed by the city served by the urban school district after September 24, 1986, shall be governed by the agreement.

So, as long as the Win-Win Agreement stays in force, it supersedes the Ohio law in regard to school district boundaries and annexations.  What is the risk of the Win-Win Agreement not remaining in force?

The risk isn't zero. But the situation is much more complicated than it was in the 1980s, when most of the land outside I-270 was undeveloped and unincorporated. Since then, the City of Columbus has indicated that it's not all that eager to expand its frontiers for residential development, which requires it to take on the attendant responsibilities of providing police, fire, garbage collection, street repair, and all the other expected city services.

But that's not exactly the question regarding Ballantrae, which was annexed into the City of Dublin before the first house was built. I think the question is whether, in the absence of an "annexation agreement" such as the Win-Win Agreement, Columbus City Schools - a wholly separate political entity than the City of Columbus - would be likely to make a push to have Ballantrae transferred to Columbus City Schools?

I don't think that's at all likely. The law seems to be written to favor having school districts aligned with municipalities, and so if the Win-Win Agreement terminates and Ballantrae has been made an island of the Hilliard school district because of annexations by the City of Columbus, the outcome would surely be to cure the problem by transferring Ballantrae to Dublin City Schools.

So what's the rush?  Again, as a layman, I think the arguments asserting that the residents of Ballantrae must immediately take matters into their own hands before something bad happens - like an involuntary transfer to Columbus City Schools - are extremely weak. 

I suspect there is some other underlying motivation which is driving the instigators of this conversation. I would encourage the residents of Ballantrae to ferret that out before heading down the complex (ie expensive) process of initiating a transfer to another school district.

NOTE: please continue your reading to the followup article on this subject, found here.