Thursday, June 25th, 2026

Welcome to Thursday’s edition of The Pennant. To listen to this newsletter, click the “Listen Online” link in the top right corner of this email.

On this date in 2009, pop star Michael Jackson died in Los Angeles at age 50, the same day actress Farrah Fawcett died.

Reports are showing that more than 120 Ohio school districts could be in the red by 2029. Find out why in the Top of The Fold.

Also, only 24 of 66 school levies passed statewide this year. Read the reasoning behind this and what it means for school districts moving forward in our editorial.

COLUMBUS — More than 120 Ohio districts could be in the red by 2029, the worst rate since the Great Recession, with urban and rural schools alike cutting jobs and services as state aid stays flat and costs keep rising.

Lawmakers say they've put record money into public education, adding $120 million more through 2027, but enrollment is falling, and plenty of districts still come out behind under the funding formula.

COLUMBUS — Even after halving its forecast to 13 gigawatts, AEP Ohio is still overstating data center demand and driving up costs, the Ohio Manufacturers' Association says in a report urging regulators to investigate.

For more, see the fight over who pays for power that may never get used.

COLUMBUS — The Ohio Supreme Court has again refused to hear an appeal from Mackenzie Shirilla, whose case was featured in the Netflix documentary "The Crash" after her 2023 conviction in the July 2022 deaths of her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, 20, and their friend, Davion Flanagan, 19.

In a decision signed Tuesday by Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy, the court declined to take the case, leaving in place a sentence the Eighth District Court of Appeals upheld in March after a string of failed appeals.

See a full breakdown of the appeal here.

Ohio's theme parks are expensive. For the right age group, they're worth it.

Cedar Point in Sandusky is the one most Ohio families think of first, and for good reason. A single-day ticket runs $60 to $100 depending on the date, parking is $35, and a family of four will spend $300 to $400 before dinner. Kings Island in Mason is comparable — $60 to $80 per ticket at the gate, with similar food and parking costs. Both parks sell season passes that pay for themselves after two visits.

The mistake most families make is going at the wrong age. Cedar Point's best rides carry height restrictions that will sideline most kids under 10. Bring a 7-year-old expecting roller coasters, and you'll spend the day in the kiddie section — which is fine, but not $100-a-ticket fine. Kings Island's Planet Snoopy section is genuinely built for the 5-to-10 crowd and worth the trip on its own terms.

Tomorrow: Baseball and soccer — Ohio's sporting events ranked by family value.

The May levy results were not a warning shot. They heard the gun going off. Only 24 of 66 school levies passed statewide — 36% — down from 64% a year ago and 52% the year before that. That is not a bad cycle. That is a collapse.

The districts getting hit hardest are familiar by now. Parma hasn't passed a new operating levy since 2011 and is flirting with a fiscal precaution designation from the state. Streetsboro canceled junior varsity sports and cut library aides after its third straight levy failure. Barberton was planning layoffs before the votes were counted.

We are now seriously debating House Bill 355 — sponsored by Rep. David Thomas (R-Jefferson) — which would raise the voter approval threshold for school levies from a simple majority to 60%. Even House Speaker Matt Huffman pumped the brakes, calling it "a significant step to say we're not going to have majority rule." When a Republican House Speaker is defending majority rule against members of his own caucus, the room has shifted. The bill may go nowhere. The fact that it has legs at all says plenty.

If HB 355 were law today, 35 of the 74 school levies that passed this past cycle would have failed. That's not protecting taxpayers. That's pulling the floor out from under kids who didn't vote.

Continue reading the editorial here.

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