Columbus’ political establishment is being forced to reckon with a new generation. On Sunday afternoon, the nonprofit Columbus Stand Up! hosted its second annual youth-led candidate debate at Fort Hayes Education Center, where students as young as 15 grilled candidates for Columbus City Council District 7 and the Columbus City School Board.

In a city where partisan politics often feel scripted, the event broke the mold: teens and twenty-somethings set the agenda, filled the auditorium, and put candidates on notice that the next generation is watching.

A Race Defined by Nepotism and Party Politics

This year’s contests are already thick with insider maneuvering. District 7’s council race — representing Downtown and surrounding neighborhoods — has been shaped less by policy and more by partisan endorsements.

    Tiara Ross carries the Franklin County Democratic Party’s official endorsement, plus the backing of Mayor Ginther, City Council President Shannon Hardin, all sitting council members, and major unions. She is the establishment’s pick.
    Jesse Vogel refused the party blessing and instead positioned himself as the outsider, running with the Working Families Party endorsement while hammering at the city’s insider politics.

And yet, the sharpest moment of the afternoon wasn’t about policy — it was about representation.

During closing statements, Ross reminded Vogel — and the crowd — that she is a Black woman raised on the city’s Near East Side, and that Columbus City Council currently has no Black women serving for the first time in nearly 30 years. The room erupted with applause and cheers.

That gap opened after Franklin County Prosecutor Shayla Favor (formerly a councilmember) won her countywide election in November 2024 and vacated her seat in January. The vacancy was filled by Otto Beatty III — meaning the city’s most powerful legislative body lost its only Black woman, breaking an unbroken streak of representation that stretched back three decades.

Ross’ words hit differently in that context. For many in the audience, her pitch wasn’t just about one candidate — it was about restoring a voice that has long anchored Black women in city government.

School Board: Endorsements and Divides

Six candidates remain for three open seats on the Columbus City Schools Board of Education, and the divides are clear.

Party-backed slate:

•     Patrick Katzenmeyer — husband of former City Councilmember and current YWCA CEO Elizabeth Brown, and son of retired Greater Columbus Arts Council CEO Tom Katzenmeyer.
•     Jermaine Kennedy — whose name surfaced in Free Press public records research as the next-door neighbor of independent candidate Kimberley Mason.
•     Antoinette Miranda — who previously served two terms on the Ohio State Board of Education (2017–2025).

All three are endorsed by the Franklin County Democratic Party, with Katzenmeyer and Miranda also carrying endorsements from the Columbus Education Association (CEA).

Union and progressive-aligned candidates:

•     Janeece Keyes-Shanklin — endorsed by the CEA.
•     Mounir Lynch — endorsed by the Working Families Party.
•     Antoinette Miranda — straddling both camps with endorsements from the Party and WFP.

Independent lane:

•     Kimberley Mason — running as a community-centered candidate, endorsed by The Matriots. Mason has positioned her campaign around “bold changes centered on future generational success.”

What the Next School Board Inherits

Whoever wins in November won’t be walking into a school board seat — they’ll be walking into triage.

Columbus City Schools, the state’s largest district with nearly 45,000 students, is staring down a convergence of crises that would test even the most seasoned policymakers. The next three board members will inherit the task of steering the district through one of its most precarious periods in decades.

A Structural Budget Gap

On August 19, the board voted to slash $50 million annually beginning in FY27 after Treasurer/CFO Stan Bahorek warned CCS is spending about $22 million more than it collects each year. Superintendent Angela Chapman has already admitted that cuts on this scale could mean school closures and consolidations. With a $1.8 billion operating budget, the gap is not a matter of trimming fat — it’s a knife poised at the district’s core services.

Enrollment Declines = Less Money, More Empty Space

From 2017–18 to 2022–23, CCS lost around 4,000 students — roughly 10 percent of its enrollment. Every student lost is not just a child walking out the door but a stream of state dollars leaving with them. Meanwhile, the district is still paying to heat, staff, and maintain dozens of buildings that are increasingly half-empty. What was once a challenge of overcrowding has now flipped to underutilization and waste.

Buildings Aging Into Crisis

Even after a two-decade building campaign that renovated 46 schools for $694 million and a $125 million bond in 2016 for deferred maintenance, CCS still sits on a portfolio of facilities averaging more than 50 years old. Repairs are costly, breakdowns routine, and some schools may not survive the next realignment. A facilities task force is reviewing options, but whispers of closures and consolidations have already spread fear among parents and staff.

Policy Shocks From the Statehouse

Even if CCS balanced its books, state policy is tilting the field against it. Ohio’s aggressive EdChoice voucher expansion is siphoning students — and dollars — into private schools. At the same time, state law requires CCS to transport private and charter students, adding more cost for fewer in-district kids. Lawsuits may eventually decide the future of vouchers, but in the meantime, public money is bleeding out.

Academic Outcomes Moving Backward

Finances aren’t the only problem. Preliminary data this summer showed the four-year graduation rate slid from 83.3 percent to 78.9 percent. That drop is more than a statistic — it’s a warning flare that academic outcomes, already under pressure from pandemic disruptions and staffing shortages, are slipping further behind.

The Bottom Line

The candidates who win this November won’t just be deciding on policies. They’ll be deciding:

•     Which schools stay open and which close.
•     Where to cut and where to consolidate.

Get any of those calls wrong, and Columbus could rewrite its public education map for an entire generation.

The Issues Youth Care About

The questions from students hit hard: housing affordability, public safety, homelessness, transportation, and how governance decisions ripple through schools and neighborhoods. These aren’t abstract policy debates for students — they’re daily realities.

“Those issues directly affect us,” said Fort Hayes senior Marilyn Lucero. “Being knowledgeable now means when we are eligible to vote, we’ll already be prepared to act.”

Even those not yet of voting age stressed the urgency. “People are scared to ask questions, or they think it doesn’t matter,” said junior Yaretzi Lucero-Buitron. “But when we grow older, these things are going to matter — they already do.”

Beyond Tokenism

 It wasn’t just the crowd that made this debate different — it was the framing. Youth moderators and MCs didn’t lob softballs. They asked about accountability, equity, and the lived experiences of students in underfunded schools and families navigating Columbus’ housing crisis.

Carter Robinson, from the grassroots group Black Men Build, underscored the symbolism: “It’s amazing to have such a youthful crowd. These are impressionable minds — but also powerful voices.”

The Stakes Ahead

Three Columbus City School Board members will be elected out of the six candidates. District 7 will send one new face to City Council. On paper, that’s routine democratic party machine politics. In practice, these races could shape how Columbus navigates the collision of development, displacement, and educational inequality in the decade ahead.

The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 6. Early voting starts Oct. 7. Election Day is Nov. 4.

The real question isn’t just who will win — but whether the torch-passing youth at Fort Hayes will demand a politics Columbus has never seen before.