Columbus Municipal School District Board of Trustees member Jason Spears has confirmed his intent to seek a second five-year term.
Spears, 37, owner of JDS Wealth Strategies in Columbus, told The Dispatch on Thursday he submitted his paperwork to reapply for his board position at the beginning of January.
School board members are appointed by the city council.
The mayor’s secretary, Joyce Doughty, said no other candidates had applied for the board position as of Thursday.
Spears said he wants to seek another term so he can continue to help Columbus grow its school system.
“I think the biggest thing is that Columbus needs a strong school district in the city. Of course, that comes on all levels — in the classroom all the way through the governance of it,” he said. “I feel that over my time, there’s been many moving parts that I’ve been a part of, and I hope to be able to continue to help projects be completed as well as be a voice for all parties involved in the boardroom.”
Spears was first appointed to the board by the Columbus City Council on March 20, 2012.
His term expires on March 2. The appointment to the position will be made on Feb. 21, and the deadline to apply is Feb. 15. Advertisements will be placed on Sunday, according to Doughty.
Ward 6 Councilman Bill Gavin said he supported Spears’ appointment in 2012, and he plans to support him again.
Gavin, who represents the ward where Spears lives, said he thinks other council members will support his constituent, too.
“I think Jason has brought a lot of good, valuable information and perspective to the school board in terms of finance. He has done a good job,” he said. “Any time you have a board like the school board, you need a variety of different people on there that can bring together different views and so forth. For me, Jason brings a financial sense to that board that is very badly needed.”
Mayor: ‘He does his homework’
Spears has been the most regularly outspoken board member against some of CMSD Superintendent Philip Hickman’s initiatives — most recently a proposal last year to generate more revenue to service district debt obligations by raising the property taxes by more than 6 mills.
City officials, including Mayor Robert Smith, openly opposed the tax hike that never came to fruition. The district instead used some of its reserve funds to service the debt payments.
During a Columbus Rotary Club meeting late last year, the mayor openly criticized CMSD’s leadership, saying changes were needed for the district to improve on the academic and financial fronts.
The mayor, on Friday, told The Dispatch he appreciated Spears’ service on the CMSD board, however, especially in opposing the proposed tax increase.
“I think Jason has done a good job,” Smith said. “He does his homework, he’s good with numbers, and I believe he’s working to do what’s best for the school district and the city.”
Building better relations between city and CMSD
Since the tax hike proposal inflamed relations between CMSD and the city, Smith said the situation has vastly improved.
He said he has met with Hickman a few times, and school and city administrators have sought to work out their differences.
“We’ve tried to reconcile,” Smith said. “Things are going along real good.”
Smith said he had hoped a city councilman or another city leader could sit on a budget advisory committee Spears proposed last month — one that would look at budget trends and advise the school board on best capitalizing on revenue streams. But legal questions arose from Spears’ proposal to pay those committee members a stipend for their service, and the school board is now looking to expand the duties of its volunteer long-term debt committee instead.
As relations between CMSD and the city continue to warm, Smith said he hopes to avoid open public disagreements between the bodies moving forward.
“In the future, whatever differences there are between the mayor and council and the superintendent and school board, I hope we can work those out behind closed doors,” he said. “That way, we won’t be airing our dirty laundry out in the public.”
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