COLUMBUS SCHOOLS WIN AUCTION FOR ECOT HEADQUARTERS

Columbus City Schools won an electronic auction Tuesday for the now-defunct ECOT’s former sprawling South Side headquarters and almost 27 acres of land.

The district bid $3,155,500, but fees should bring the total to $3,471,050. With the district currently going through a process to close schools and consolidate administrative sites, why is it purchasing a new administrative site near the far southern fringe of the district?

“When we can save dollars and better maximize the public resources we’ve been given on the operations side of our business, then there are more resources we can devote to educating our more than 51,000 students and to updating and maintaining our school buildings,” Board of Education President Gary Baker said in a written statement.

“This is a solid investment in the future operations of Columbus City Schools. My colleagues recognize that the amount paid for the property is far less than what would be needed to build new administrative space or refurbish existing space to better maximize district resources.”

The building purchase is part of a liquidation of all ECOT assets, with proceeds being used to help pay off the school’s remaining creditors after its closure in January.

As the auction ended Tuesday, ECOT attorneys were asking a Franklin County judge to block state Auditor Dave Yost’s attempt to intervene in the dismantling of what was formally the state’s largest charter school.

Nearly three weeks ago, shortly after releasing an audit that included a referral for possible criminal prosecution against some ECOT officials, Yost’s office asked Franklin County Judge Michael Holbrook to intervene in the case to ensure it can access data for additional investigation.

“Since the ability to access this data now depends upon an agreement of the parties and a ruling from this court, the auditor may be deprived from appropriately weighing in on this process and accessing the data if it is not made a party,” the auditor’s counsel wrote in its motion.

ECOT attorney Christopher Hogan filed an objection, arguing that Yost’s office has already made digital copies of school data, so intervention is unnecessary. He called the data gathering “part of a transparent and misguided effort by the auditor to buttress an ongoing political campaign with unfortunate allegations of non-existent criminal conduct.”

Regardless of that fight, the ECOT building could provide significant savings for Columbus schools through consolidation by allowing it to close and sell existing administrative sites, the district said. Two district administrative facilities on 17th Avenue and Hudson Street alone could generate an estimated $6.1 million. Also, academic offices at the Linmoor Education Center in Linden, across I-71 from the Ohio State Fairgrounds, also could consolidate into the ECOT building, which is 138,000 square feet, much of it renovated with a futuristic interior design.

The ECOT building was formerly a strip shopping mall that included a theater complex and has three movie theaters — two without seats that are used for storage and a third that has been remodeled as a theater. The district could potentially use that space for staff meetings and special events, Varner said.