Reineke: 'Education is in crisis mode in Ohio.' Leaderless ed board must be under governor

Ohio Sen. Bill Reineke, R-Tiffin, is the main sponsor of Senate Bill 178.

Parents matter. Grades matter. And results matter.

Three reasons that are paramount to a critical 21^st Century change to the current unaccountable bureaucracy at the Ohio Department of Education.  That is exactly why I’m sponsoring Senate Bill 178.

You might be shocked to learn, that the state school board which is a hybrid mix of eight appointed and 11 elected members, doesn’t have a boss and neither does the Ohio Department of Education.

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Neither answer to the executive branch of government, and it is high time their duties fall under the supervision of the governor’s office.

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In fact, it is easy to assume yet misunderstand that the superintendent of public instruction is the department’s figure head, but in reality, doesn’t answer to the governor.

And the board has failed to hire a superintendent.

Now more than ever, the post COVID-19 recovery demands accountability, guidance and access to professional resources for our educators and school boards at the local level around the state.

Here is more evidence for this change. 

• Ask the current board why we have 19.3% remediation rate.

• Ask why we have a career tech department that currently consists of only 37 employees out of over 700.

• Ask about the success rates on state tests in some of our school districts, specifically districts such as East Cleveland City Schools, where only 9.7% of high school students are testing as proficient or higher in English language arts and at 0.0% proficient or higher in geometry.

Education is in crisis mode in Ohio.

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In the 2021-22 school year more than 30% of students statewide were chronically absent.  Of those, half were African American. Students can’t learn if they aren’t in class or are simply unaccounted for.

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We need to make sure the department of education stands ready to help our teachers everywhere do some heavy lifting.

If we started to consider a “student’s purpose,” we could have greater outcomes.

Sending our students through an education process that predominately considers only college readiness has created the crack through which so many students have fallen.

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Additionally, students and parents are rightly concerned about the forever debt that college loans burden our children with, and often for what? Education needs to produce career earnings instead of career debt.

Senate Bill 178 is designed to create accountability and to assist students in finding and training for their "student purpose."

A cabinet level position under the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce would have two departments, primary and secondary education and career tech, to help our kids learn while determining what they love to do and are skilled at doing.

Through a cabinet level position that has oversight and accountability to your elected officials built in, we can make sure that government is accountable to our kids and their success.

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There have been bipartisan calls for change with the Ohio Board of Education and the department for years.

Democrat Gov. Ted Strickland in 2008 even said “The most important duty of the state should not be overseen by an unwieldy department with splintered accountability.”

Gov. John Kasich’s administration recognized the need for change as well, and I sponsored a similar bill 2018.

Gov. Richard Celeste said in 1990, “It’s time to change the way we govern education, to make it more accountable to the governor, the General Assembly and the people of Ohio.”

And let’s not forget to add “and our students” to that quote now.

Ohio Sen. Bill Reineke, R-Tiffin, is the main sponsor of Senate Bill 178.