Senators Supporting SB178 Characterized Public Education as an Abject Failure as They Spoke in Favor of the Bill on the Senate Floor.
If senators believe public education is failing, they should:
  1. Pass the Cupp/Patterson Fair School Funding bill and thus enact a constitutional thorough and efficient system of common schools; which has been victim of neglect since the Ohio Supreme Court decision in 1997. A case can be made that Ohio legislatures have never met the 1851 mandate to secure a thorough and efficient system.
  2. Pass legislation that provides appropriate social programs and services that help children in impoverished districts to enter kindergarten developmentally capable of performing at kindergarten level.
  3. Pass legislation that seriously addresses the discrimination against children of color, disadvantage, and disability.
Senate Bill 178 is pure poppycock. It takes the spotlight off the real problems in education—inadequacies, inequities, discrimination, privatization of education, etc. It is a ploy, a ruse, a subterfuge. Shifting state education governance from the State Board of Education does not address the root causes of low performance, actual or perceived by those who know nothing about teaching or education in general. It just allows the majority party senators to hoodwink the public.
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