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Failed governor? How about failed state?
By Michael Douglas
Beacon Journal editorial page editor
Published on Sunday, Mar 15, 2009
It hasn't been easy being Ted Strickland lately. The governor expects Republicans to snipe at his ambitious plans to overhaul the way the state pays for public education. He argues they would like nothing more than to see him raise taxes to cover the cost of the proposed changes.
Then, they would pounce. He won't open the way to ''Tax Hike Ted.''
More telling have been the harsh words from the education community, those supposedly on his side. On Wednesday, representatives of teacher unions criticized the school plan. They complained about worthy provisions that would ease the path to dismissing poor performing teachers. They found flaws in toughening standards for granting tenure and the innovative plan for establishing teacher residencies, similar to those for physicians.
All of this followed grumbling from school officials about too little state money flowing to poorer districts and too much going to wealthier schools. This criticism carries validity, the revenue streams running against a decade or more of expectations about poorer districts having greater needs.
In that way, the Strickland team has been slow to respond effectively. For too long, it offered an explanation that essentially went: Oh, things will work out — in eight years.
No surprise, 12 years after the first DeRolph decision, that beleaguered school districts want something more than what amounts to a 20-year plan. That said, the shame would be the Statehouse crowd and the rest of us losing sight of the promising framework, and even detail, the governor has proposed. He has put forward the makings of the ''complete systematic overhaul'' ordered by the Ohio Supreme Court.
Even better, the governor's framework invites Ohio to become more competitive and prosperous, yes, that turnaround touted not long ago.
Among other things, Strickland wants to measure Ohio students against the national standard of the ACT college entrance test. He proposes adding 20 days to the school year (grumbling heard), the state stepping up to the international standard of 200 days in all. Multiply 20 days by 12 years, and you get an additional year of school in the lifetime of a student — an essential change, if Ohioans are serious about their children finding good jobs and enjoying a higher standard of living.
On Tuesday, President Obama added his voice (indirectly) to the governor's cause. Much has been made about a White House at risk of spreading its agenda too thin. Larry Summers, the president's top economic adviser, explained why repairing health care is critical to healing the economy. Obama made the case for why education must not be left behind.
The president put straight the imperative: ''In a 21st century world, where jobs can be shipped wherever there's an internet connection; where a child born in Dallas is competing with a child born in Delhi; where your best job qualification is not what you do, but what you know — education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity and success, it is a prerequisite.''
Obama relayed that of the 30 fastest growing occupations in the country, one-half require a bachelor's degree or more. ''So let there be no doubt,'' he emphasized, ''the future belongs to the nation that best educates its citizens.'' He reiterated the goal of the United States reclaiming by 2020 its lead in having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.
The country has slipped to 11th the past 30 years. What has been the impact of the decline?
Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Katz, professors of economics at Harvard, published last year The Race Between Education and Technology, a richly informed and insightful book about the country achieving unrivaled prosperity in the first 70 years of the 20th century because of its clear advantage in education. Americans leaped ahead by requiring universal education, eventually founding free public high schools and then opening the doors to higher education.
In essence, American education stayed ahead of developing technology, translating into growth and jobs, higher incomes and diminished income inequality. Obviously, education isn't the sole factor in a strong economy. Goldin and Katz do establish its critical role.
Consider that in the 1950s and 1960s, the college graduation rate among young adults soared. Since the '70s? The percentage has advanced sluggishly, now at 32 percent. More, progress for young men the past three decades has been practically nil, the percentage today roughly the same.
The country's level of education has lost ground to rapidly changing technologies. Other countries have closed the gap or jumped ahead. All of this helps to bring into sharp focus the struggles of the middle class and the widening income inequality.
Goldin and Katz highlight ways to expand access to higher education. Fortunately, Ted Strickland and Eric Fingerhut, the chancellor of the Board of Regents, are pushing forward in this area (though the state must do more).
What Goldin and Katz stress, too, is the clear need to better prepare students for college. They make plain the difficult task, and the high stakes: Fall short, and Ohio will continue to lose ground economically, along with the rest of the country.
Which takes us back to the governor and his plan to overhaul school funding. This isn't about whether he fails. It is about whether the state seizes a rare moment, its leaders coming together to make hard decisions, building on what the governor has proposed, Ohio doing its part to ensure the country reclaims its place as the best educated.
Douglas is the Beacon Journal editorial page editor. He can be reached at 330-996-3514, or emailed at mdouglas@thebeaconjournal.com.
It hasn't been easy being Ted Strickland lately. The governor expects Republicans to snipe at his ambitious plans to overhaul the way the state pays for public education. He argues they would like nothing more than to see him raise taxes to cover the cost of the proposed changes.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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stow, oh
Posted 11:39 AM, 03/15/2009
You got to love the teachers unions. It's all about them all the time and to heck with the kids.
Akron, OH
Posted 12:23 AM, 03/26/2009
Nothing the governor or state government does (like throwing more borrowed money at education) is going to outdo the damage done to kids by being illegitimate with no father ever present in their lives, and by being neglected, abused, and left to raising themselves.
Superior education begins in the home, with two parents whose first priority is bringing up children who are loved, fed, bathed and dressed in clean clothes, disciplined for wrongdoing, and taught basic manners and respect for others (like teachers). This, not 20 more school days, is what is lacking.
