Gov. Ted Strickland's plan for education reform took the media spotlight Thursday at the Ohio Associated Press 2009 Legislative Preview. The discussion followed the governor's State of the State address on Wednesday afternoon.
The usual topics of health care and economics were brought up as well, but education and its funding dominated the conversation.
"We are continuing to live within our means while investing in the things we think are important to Ohio's future," Strickland said, excited to talk about his new model for Ohio schools.
Strickland proposed ideas such as eliminating the 10th grade proficiency test, and using the ACT strictly to compare Ohio students' progress to students throughout the country. He also wants to implement community service projects, senior projects and state-wide final exams.
"The ACT is a well-researched test. It allows us to compare the performance of our students with students across the county," Strickland said. "States that have adopted the ACT for all of their students have found that there is an increased enrollment for higher education as a result of that."
Although some questioned the research that backed up Strickland's proposal for the ACT, money was a bigger question. He avoided answering where funding would come from, especially his proposed $925 million for elementary and secondary education. He said details for the budget will be announced on Monday.
"It will be specific. We will tell exactly how we are doing what we are proposing and we will explain to you the path forward," Strickland said.
He did stress, however, that the funds will not come from raised taxes.
The governor said he is fully committed to his education plans and hopes the Legislature will support his ideas. He wants a longer school year and longer school days, and also looks to hold teachers to a higher accountability standard. Not all of the new plans have been officially laid out, but part of the new model includes a requirement of no more than 15 students in each class-level through the third grade.
"If a prospective teacher is going to choose to go to another state other than Ohio because we're going to have a longer school day or a longer school year, I guess I would invite them to go to another state," Strickland said.
Strickland placed another two-year tuition freeze on all Ohio public four-year colleges and universities and two-year community colleges, leaving the individual colleges to decide where to pull revenue.
"In regards to Gov. Strickland's proposal on education, I was very excited to see a framework that focused on accountability and transparency, … actual reform of the education policies as well as the issues of funding," said Senate Minority Leader Capri Cafaro (D-Warren) in a panel after the governor spoke.
The panel also included House Speaker Armond Budish (D-Beachwood) and House Minority Leader Bill Batchelder (R-Medina). Senate President Bill Harris was scheduled to attend, but broke his leg slipping on ice Tuesday night in front of the Statehouse and was unable to come.
Batchelder was slightly more skeptical about the governor's plans than his Democrat colleagues. "Every time we see one of these proposals, we have to be a little bit skeptical about it. … I'm fascinated by the phantom dollar part of this proposal," Batchelder said.
Despite rough economic times, Strickland was adamant that funding will not hurt Ohioans. "I am an optimist," he said, "but I'm a realist as well."
Emily Gibb can be reached at gibb.18@osu.edu.
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