July 27, 2006 1:57PM # Hmm. Students Are Leaving… Maybe We Should Improve? By [Andrew J. Coulson](https://www.cato.org/people/andrew-coulson) --- SHARE [This headline and story](http://www.thisweeknews.com/?edition=common&story=thisweeknews/072706/Clintonville/News/072706-News-195275.html), ladies and gentlemen, is what market education reform is all about: > **School board, staff to address student exodus** > > > Saying it’s time to take a direct role in addressing parents’ concerns about district schools, the Columbus Public Schools Board of Education pledged to create a vision statement to guide policies that will strengthen the city schools and keep students from leaving. > > > At the same time, administrators and staff members promised to work together on ways to make the the district better. > > > Board members held a special meeting last Thursday, along with administrators and members of the district’s employee unions, to discuss a survey that said one in nine parents plans to withdraw their child from CPS this year. > > > That, in a district that has lost nearly 7,000 students to charter schools over the past several years, and stands to lose more because of private school vouchers this fall.… ##### Related Tags [Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).