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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The state board of education will likely move from its long-held office in the Department of Education and Workforce building – a move that members and its superintendent say would be a huge detriment to the board’s ability to operate.

State Board of Education Superintendent Paul Craft sounded the alarm at a January meeting, telling board members that the director of the Department of Administrative Services informed him that the board would likely move out of its Downtown office in February. The move represented a problem to the board – not just logistically, but legally; administrative services proposed the board move to a historic government building in Reynoldsburg, but state law requires the school board to be at the seat of state government in Columbus.

The move about 16 miles east to the A.B. Graham building in Reynoldsburg, which previously housed offices of the Department of Agriculture, would be akin to moving to the “gulag,” said at-large member Walt Davis.

“I see no rationale that makes any sense to move out there,” Davis said at the January meeting, noting he’d served on another board that met there years ago.

A spokesperson for the Department of Administrative Services said in light of the legal concerns raised by the board, administrative services is looking for an “alternative tenant” to fill the recently renovated A.B. Graham building. But the department is still looking to move the school board out of its home in the education department building, which sits on the banks of the Scioto River.

Craft said that moving the board out of its offices alongside the state’s other educational institutions would amount to a “loss of synergy” that no possible perks – like parking for staff – could offset.

“The loss we would get in terms of no longer being co-located with the educational stakeholders in the state of Ohio, I can’t support, from an operational perspective, what the Department of Administrative Services would like to do with the team,” Craft said.

Craft said Director Kathleen Madden personally informed him of the move – and the fact that there’s “nothing” he can do to appeal the decision. The spokesperson for administrative services did not provide a reason as to why it wants to move the school board out of the Department of Education and Workforce building.

The impending move comes amid a funding crisis at the school board, which Craft cautioned may not be able to pay its staff by June. The expected $2 million budget shortfall comes after the state slashed funding to the board, which itself coincided with the board losing most of its powers.

That loss of power, leaving the board to mostly oversee teacher licenses and disciplinary actions, is being challenged in Franklin County court. In the meantime, Craft said he is focusing on leveraging relationships within state government to keep the board at 25 S. Front St.

“While I’d love to keep education as divorced from politics as we can, I think we’re probably going to need intervention from some other state actors to make this happen,” Craft said.

The board has formally invited Madden to its Feb. 12 meeting to discuss administrative services’ reasons for the move – which another board member said amounted to the board’s “banishment.” The spokesperson for administrative services said she isn’t sure if Madden will attend.