COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — There are 10 candidates vying for the Columbus Board of Education, and voters decided Tuesday which six are still in the running.
The Columbus Education PAC, which featured Patrick Katzenmeyer, Jermaine Kennedy and Antionette Miranda, led the primary by far. Each PAC candidate got twice as many votes as candidates who are not in the PAC. The trio is running jointly and received a number of endorsements, including the Franklin County Democratic Party and OAPSE/AFSCME, the Ohio public school employees union.
The other three candidates who appear likely to advance are Mounir Lynch, Janeece Keyes and Kimberly Mason, with more than 99% of the precincts counted. Liz Caslin-Turner received the next-highest number of votes, but she was still several hundred votes behind Keyes and Mason.
The remaining six candidates who pass Tuesday’s primary advance to the November election, competing for three school board vacancies. All three seats that are up for election do not have an incumbent, with board members Christina Vera, Ramona Reyes and board President Michael Cole all opting not to seek reelection.
The job they are competing for is a big one. The board is still coming off a three-day teachers’ strike over union contract negotiations that left 50,000 students to start the 2022-2023 school year virtually. The contract that led to the strike is now expiring, and the board of education is currently negotiating with the teachers’ union for a new contract.
In just this past year, the district handled controversial school closures, leaked memos and audio recordings, two censures of board member Brandon Simmons and a lawsuit from the state of Ohio over the district no longer busing private school students who live within district boundaries.
The vote also comes as the district faces funding uncertainty in the state budget. Columbus City Schools’ leadership has testified at state hearings about a possible loss of more than $45 million in the next two years under the current Ohio budget proposal. New board candidates may need to help navigate the funding issue and other emerging legislative changes.
Here are the candidates who hoped to advance to the November election, with those in bold anticipated to advance:
- Liz Caslin-Turner, regional director for Sylvan Learning Centers
- Teresa Hannah, owner and founder of STEPP Forward LLC, an educational consulting firm
- Patrick Katzenmeyer,* senior project manager at Pizzuti Companies real estate firm
- Jermaine Kennedy,* chief program officer at the Boys & Girls Club
- Janeece Keyes, director of provider experience at the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation
- Karrie Lumpkin, longtime administrative professional at the Ohio Attorney General’s Office
- Mounir Lynch, public health educator
- Kimberly Mason, higher education partnership manager with the Ohio Bankers League
- Antionette Miranda,* OSU professor and school psychologist
- Julie Trabold, financial advisor
*indicates they are a member of the Columbus Education PAC, a trio of candidates running together.